Episode 1 of The Cat and the Dragon (Neko to Ryuu) landed on Crunchyroll this morning — and it is already one of the more charming premiers of the Summer 2026 season. If your anime diet leans toward warm-and-cosy rather than shonen-tournament-brutal, this one is worth an immediate watch in Singapore.
Image courtesy of Amara / Takarajimasha / 猫と竜 Production Committee
What Is The Cat and the Dragon?
Based on the fantasy light novel series by Amara, published by Takarajimasha, the story begins with a dragon egg that hatches in the wrong forest — deep in the territory of a family of magic-wielding cats. With no mother and nowhere to go, the dragon is adopted by the cat clan and raised as one of their own. The dragon eventually learns to shapeshift into a cat-like form to better protect its adopted family, which has the somewhat unintended side-effect of making it the most powerful creature in the world that also grooming itself.
The tone sits squarely between a slice-of-life family drama and a low-key adventure — think found-family with claws. Underneath the coziness, though, there is real tension around how the human world relates to the cats and, by extension, to their dragon protector.
The Cat and the Dragon — 2nd Promotional Video (Japanese) — via 宝島社公式 on YouTube
Studio OLM and a Stacked Voice Cast
The anime is produced by OLM (the studio behind the Pokémon animated series), directed by Jin-Koo Oh, with series composition by Mitsutaka Hirota and character designs by Rie Nishino and Chiaki Kurakazu. The premise might sound simple, but the production is anything but — OLM has brought in one of the strongest voice casts of the season.
The dragon-raised-as-cat, known as Neko-ryū, is voiced by Takehito Koyasu — best known in Singapore as the voice of Dio Brando from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Whitebeard from One Piece. The Mama-nyan cat matriarch is voiced by Kikuko Inoue, while the supporting cast includes Show Hayami as Kurobane, Noriaki Sugiyama (Sasuke in Naruto) as Haibuchi, Tanezaki Atsumi (Anya Forger from SPY x FAMILY) as Gally, and Hanae Natsuki — the voice of Tanjiro Kamado in Demon Slayer — as the mysterious Monarch Black.
Image courtesy of Amara / Takarajimasha / 猫と竜 Production Committee
Watching in Singapore
Episode 1 is streaming now on Crunchyroll, which carries the series for Singapore and across Southeast Asia. New episodes drop on Saturdays. The series is expected to run for 12 episodes across the Summer 2026 season.
For more new anime arriving this season, check out our Manga & Anime roundups — Summer 2026 has been unusually stacked and we have been covering it all.
One of anime’s most legendary franchises gets a fresh start this week: 攻殻機動隊 THE GHOST IN THE SHELL premieres on 7 July 2026 on Fuji TV in Japan — and simultaneously on Amazon Prime Video in Singapore and more than 240 countries worldwide. Science SARU, the studio behind Dandadan and Inu-Oh, is taking the helm. The Summer 2026 season has not been short on big premieres, but this is the one that has the broadest conversation going.
Why This Ghost in the Shell Is Different
Image courtesy of Science SARU / Bandai Namco Filmworks
Every previous Ghost in the Shell anime adaptation has lived in the shadow of Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 film — the muted palette, the slow philosophical pacing, the rain-soaked existentialism that influenced a generation of filmmakers from the Wachowskis to James Cameron. Science SARU is not making that series. Director Mokochan and character designer Shuhei Handa have explicitly returned to Masamune Shirow’s original 1989–91 manga aesthetic — brighter, more kinetic, with Major Motoko Kusanagi rendered closer to Shirow’s own drawings than the Oshii film version most international audiences know.
The script is by EnJoe Toh (円城塔), an award-winning hard science-fiction novelist — not a veteran anime scriptwriter. That left-field choice signals a production pushing for genuine sci-fi prose rather than standard procedural anime plotting. The story follows Kusanagi and the combat unit she leads at Section 9 against a hacker known as the Puppet Master, across a near-future city where cyberbrain technology has reshaped crime, identity, and humanity.
Official Promotional Video 2 — via Ghost in the Shell Official Channel on YouTube (Japanese)
Science SARU: The Right Studio at the Right Moment
Image courtesy of Science SARU / Bandai Namco Filmworks
Science SARU was co-founded by Masaaki Yuasa, and while Yuasa is not directing here, the studio’s commitment to handcrafted, design-led animation is well established. Their work on Dandadan — which delivered one of the most visually inventive anime seasons in years — proved they can handle high-energy, action-forward material without losing aesthetic integrity. Ghost in the Shell demands both technical precision and a strong visual identity; Science SARU has demonstrated it can deliver both.
At the world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on 22 June 2026, director Mokochan explicitly stated that zero generative AI was used in production. That commitment, made publicly at the industry’s largest animation gathering, has been a widely noted talking point since — and in an anime industry where AI-in-production debates are intensifying, it positions this series clearly.
Music is from Taisei Iwasaki, Ryo Konishi, and Yuki Kanesaka. The ending theme — titled “Blue” — is performed by Millennium Parade featuring Saya Gray and Daniel Caesar. That combination of Japanese art-pop production and international collaborators should pull listeners well outside the usual anime-music audience.
Watch It in Singapore From Day One
Image courtesy of Science SARU / Bandai Namco Filmworks
Prime Video is available in Singapore, and the series launches globally on 7 July — meaning Singapore fans can watch the same day as the Japanese broadcast, no waiting, no searching for streams. Just log into your Prime Video account. The series is available in over 240 countries and territories, with the only notable exceptions being China, Russia, and Vietnam.
This is also the first Ghost in the Shell anime title produced outside Production I.G., which had held the anime rights for more than thirty years — from the 1995 Oshii film through the Stand Alone Complex TV series and beyond. Science SARU stepping in is a genuine creative handoff. Notably, Bandai Namco Filmworks, Kodansha, and Production I.G. itself are all in the production committee, confirming this is a franchise succession rather than a licensing side project.
Whether you are a long-time fan of the franchise who remembers Section 9 from Stand Alone Complex, or someone who has only encountered the Ghost in the Shell name by reputation, 7 July is the date. Same day as Japan. Prime Video. For Singapore, there is no easier on-ramp to one of the most anticipated anime of 2026.
After thirty years of waiting, Cooking Master Boy is finally getting the TV anime it deserved from the start. 鉄鍋のジャン！ (Tetsunabe no Jan!) premieres on 5 July 2026 on TV Tokyo and its five affiliate stations — making it one of the stealth must-watches of the Summer 2026 season and, remarkably, the first-ever television adaptation of a manga that sold over 10 million copies.
The Manga Singapore Readers Grew Up With
Image courtesy of NBCUniversal Anime/Music
Saijyo Shinji’s manga ran in Weekly Shonen Champion from 1995 to 2007, racking up more than 10 million copies sold across its run — a number that understates its actual footprint across Southeast Asia, where translated editions and bootleg copies passed hand-to-hand through the late 1990s and 2000s. Singapore and Malaysian readers know Jan well: the impossibly arrogant teenage chef who would cook a fire-column fried rice to humiliate rivals, and who made every dish feel like a cage match rather than a recipe.
The premise: 15-year-old Akiyama Sho — nicknamed “Jan,” the Chinese reading of his given name — is the son of a legendary Chinese grand-master chef. Raised to be ruthless, creative, and completely without sportsmanship, Jan tears through China’s most prestigious cooking academy and tournament circuit using techniques no one else would dare attempt. The cooking battles are absurd by design, the characters are wildly over-the-top, and the food somehow looks incredible despite being physically impossible. It defined the cooking-manga genre for a generation of readers across Asia.
Why Now? Nobody Knows — and That Is Part of the Appeal
Image courtesy of NBCUniversal Anime/Music
The official site — tetsujan.com (Japanese) — acknowledges the absurdity with wry honesty: 「これまでアニメ化されなかった理由は誰にもわからない」 — roughly, “nobody knows why it was never adapted until now.” For a manga with 10 million sales and a generation of devoted fans, the absence of a TV anime has been a long-running in-joke in fandom circles for decades. 2026 is when that joke ends.
NBCUniversal Anime/Music announced the production earlier this year, and the official teaser PV dropped on their YouTube channel to immediate celebration online. The animation studio is LAPANTRUCK, and music for the series is being handled by tofubeats — the Kobe-born electronic producer known for introspective J-pop and collaborations with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Perfume. That is an unconventional pairing for a cooking-battle manga, and it has fans genuinely curious about the tonal direction.
Official teaser PV for 鉄鍋のジャン！ — via NBCUniversal Anime/Music on YouTube
A Voice Cast That Signals Serious Intent
For a cult manga getting its first-ever adaptation, the cast punches well above its weight:
Akiyama Sho (Jan): Toya Kikunosuke (戸谷菊之介)
Kirico: Hasegawa Ikumi (長谷川育美) — widely known for Bocchi the Rock’s Nijika Ijichi
Kei Sawa: Sakurai Takahiro (櫻井孝宏) — whose roles span Shanks in One Piece, Kirito in Sword Art Online, and Itachi in Naruto
Ryuji Bito: Sugita Tomokazu (杉田智和) — Gintoki Sakata, Joseph Joestar
Narrator: Tsuda Kenjiro (津田健次郎) — Aizen Sosuke in Bleach, Reinhard in Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Image courtesy of NBCUniversal Anime/Music
These names do not appear in nostalgia cash-grabs. The combination of Sakurai Takahiro, Sugita Tomokazu, and Tsuda Kenjiro in a single production is a statement of ambition — and it means even fans unfamiliar with the source material have a cast reason to tune in.
Can Singapore Fans Watch It?
Here is the honest answer for now: Tetsunabe no Jan! currently has no confirmed international streaming partner. The platforms listed — ABEMA, U-NEXT, AnimeTimez, and アニメ放題 — are all Japan-domestic services. There is no Crunchyroll, Netflix, or Prime Video deal announced for international territories at the time of writing.
ABEMA occasionally opens streams without region locks for select simulcasts, and platforms sometimes add overseas access post-launch. We will update this post if an international stream is confirmed. For now, Singapore fans will need to follow this one through Japan-region services.
For those who have never read the manga: the original Weekly Shonen Champion run is worth tracking down to understand why a 30-year-old property getting its first TV anime is genuinely exciting news. 鉄鍋のジャン！ premieres 5 July 2026 on TV Tokyo and affiliates at 17:30 JST. Official site: tetsujan.com (Japanese). More anime premieres this summer on GameTrader.SG.
After two acclaimed seasons that set a high bar for isekai anime, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is back with Season 3 this weekend. The new cour launches with a back-to-back two-episode special premiere on 4 July 2026 via ABEMA and d Anime Store — one day ahead of the terrestrial broadcast — with regular weekly episodes beginning on Sunday 5 July on Tokyo MX and other channels.
Image courtesy of TOHO animation / Mushoku Tensei III Production Committee
The Eris Training Arc — Season 3 shifts its focus
Season 3 places Eris Boreas Greyrat firmly in the spotlight. The second promotional video, subtitled “Eris Training Arc” (エリス修行編), and the official Season 3 key visual both centre on the fiery red-haired swordswoman — a narrative move that fans of the light novel and manga have long been waiting to see fully realised on screen. Rudeus Greyrat remains the series’ anchor, but Eris’s journey toward the rank of Sword King is the beating heart of this new chapter.
The season’s ending theme, “祈り、終われば” (“When the Prayer Ends”), is performed by Mika Nakashima — a veteran Japanese pop singer known internationally for Nana and numerous J-pop releases. The choice suggests an emotional tone to match Eris’s arc.
Image courtesy of TOHO animation / Mushoku Tensei III Production Committee
Studio Bind returns with the same core team
Studio Bind returns as the animation studio, with Ryosuke Shibuya directing — the same pairing that has maintained the series’ visual identity across Seasons 1 and 2. The original light novel by Rifujin na Magonote spanned 24 volumes and became one of the defining works of the post-2010 isekai generation. Bind’s adaptation has been methodical and consistently high quality; Season 3 is expected to continue that standard.
Watch the official Season 3 trailer
『無職転生Ⅲ ～異世界行ったら本気だす～』本PV — via TOHO animation チャンネル on YouTube
When and where to watch from Singapore
Image courtesy of TOHO animation / Mushoku Tensei III Production Committee
The advanced two-episode premiere airs on 4 July (Saturday) via ABEMA and d Anime Store at 8:00pm JST, which is 7:00pm SGT. Episode 2 follows at 8:30pm JST (7:30pm SGT). The regular weekly terrestrial broadcast begins 5 July (Sunday) on Tokyo MX and satellite channels including BS11.
Streaming rights outside Japan had not been formally confirmed at time of writing. Seasons 1 and 2 of Mushoku Tensei were available on Crunchyroll in Singapore and the rest of Southeast Asia, and Season 3 is widely expected to follow the same path — but keep an eye on a Crunchyroll announcement for confirmation. International ABEMA subscribers can access the two-episode premiere on Saturday regardless.
This is one of the most-anticipated anime returns of the Summer 2026 season. If you have been working through the back catalogue, the weekend premiere gives you a clear deadline. Follow our Manga & Anime section for more Summer 2026 season coverage as it lands.
The wait is almost over. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Calamity, the fourth and final cour of the revived anime, has locked in its premiere: July 25, 2026, at 11:00 PM JST on TV Tokyo and affiliated networks. Streaming across multiple platforms follows from July 26 — meaning Singapore fans can catch it the very same weekend it drops in Japan.
What Is The Calamity — and Why the Entire Bleach Fandom Is Watching
This is not a regular new season. The Calamity is the endgame — the final stretch of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, the storyline Tite Kubo concluded in the manga years ago that anime fans have been waiting to see faithfully adapted ever since the original Bleach anime ended in 2012.
The first three cours — The Blood Warfare (2022), The Separation (2023), and The Conflict (2024) — reset expectations for what shonen anime could look like visually. Part 4 now picks up with Ichigo Kurosaki and what remains of Soul Society’s forces in their final confrontation with Yhwach, the Quincy king whose power to rewrite fate makes him the most formidable villain the series has produced.
The official key visual released by Studio Pierrot makes the stakes clear without a word of dialogue: Ichigo, battered and kneeling, stares up at a massive dark form devouring the sky, surrounded by shattered zanpakuto blades. The Japanese text reads 後の刃は振り下ろされる — “the final blade falls.” Below it: 千年血戦篸 禍進譚. The Calamity. July 25.
Image courtesy of Studio Pierrot
Kubo’s Personal Touch: Choosing Both Theme Songs Himself
One of the more striking details around The Calamity’s rollout: creator Tite Kubo personally selected both theme songs for the final arc, listening to tracks from the demo stage before making the final calls. Rather than going with well-known franchise names or returning performers, he chose new-to-most-fans artists — a deliberate move to give the finale its own distinct identity.
The opening theme is “I-BULL” by jo0ji. Each episode closes with “Spiral” by 9Lana.
It is consistent with how Kubo has approached this entire adaptation. Throughout all four cours, he has reportedly contributed story material exclusive to the anime — which means even readers who finished the manga will encounter moments they have not seen before.
Official Trailer | BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Final Part – The Calamity | INTL SUBS — via VIZ on YouTube
The Theatrical Head-Start and the Creative Team Behind It
Before the TV broadcast, the first three episodes screened in selected US theaters between June 25 and 29, part of a Viz Media theatrical event. The screenings included an exclusive behind-the-scenes conversation with Kubo, chief series director Tomohisa Taguchi, and series director Hikaru Murata — a rare window into how the final arc was assembled, as reported by ComicBook.com.
Image courtesy of Studio Pierrot / Viz Media
When Singapore Fans Can Watch
The broadcast starts July 25 at 11:00 PM JST — that is 10:00 PM SGT the same Saturday night. Streaming from July 26 across multiple platforms; Singapore fans who followed Parts 1–3 should find The Calamity on the same service they used for the earlier cours. If your platform of choice has not confirmed it yet, check back on or after July 26.
If you have not caught up on the previous three parts, the next three weeks are the window to do it. All prior seasons of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War run across roughly 50 episodes of visually exceptional anime — and The Calamity will not wait for stragglers.
Seven new titles just landed in Crunchyroll’s confirmed Summer 2026 lineup for Southeast Asia — and this second wave is headlined by a brand-new One Piece spinoff, the long-awaited anime adaptation of cult cooking manga Iron Wok Jan!, and the return of Grand Blue Dreaming for a third season. Here’s everything arriving on the platform across the first two weeks of July, including what Singapore fans can stream with Bahasa Melayu and Chinese subtitle support.
One Piece Heroines Arrives 5 July — Nami Gets Her Own Story
The most eye-catching addition to the Crunchyroll Summer 2026 anime calendar for SEA is ONE PIECE HEROINES, a spinoff from Toei Animation that puts the spotlight on the women of the Straw Hat crew. The first story centres on Nami: after buying a pair of shoes that hurt her feet, she tracks down designer Lebno — who offers to craft her a bespoke pair, but only if she will model for him. Artisan Miucha completes the trio in what sounds like a character-driven style adventure sitting apart from the main Elbaph arc. It premieres on 5 July with a Thai dub, plus subtitles in Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, and Vietnamese.
ONE PIECE HEROINES | Official Trailer — via Crunchyroll on YouTube
Iron Wok Jan! Is Finally an Anime — Crunchyroll-Exclusive for SEA
Image courtesy of NBCUniversal Anime/Music / TROYCA
If one announcement from this wave deserves its own headline, it is Iron Wok Jan! The original manga ran from 1995 to 2000 and has sold over 10 million copies — a ferocious Chinese-cuisine battle story following Jan Akiyama, a devilish chef who treats every cook-off like armed combat. It is the kind of series that defined a generation of cooking-manga fans, and an anime adaptation has been a long time coming. TROYCA, the studio behind Re:CREATORS and Aldnoah.Zero, is handling it, and even the teaser PV radiates the unhinged energy of the source material.
This one is a Crunchyroll exclusive for SEA, premiering on 5 July with subtitles in Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, Thai, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese — solid coverage for Singapore viewers, including the bilingual and Mandarin-reading crowd that the original manga spoke directly to.
Iron Wok Jan! Teaser PV — via NBCUniversal Anime/Music on YouTube
Let’s Go KAIKIGUMI and 100 Girlfriends Also Hit on 5 July
Image courtesy of TBS Anime / C-Station
Two more titles round out the Sunday 5 July drop. Let’s go KAIKIGUMI (C-Station) is a Crunchyroll exclusive supernatural comedy about a man described as being six times more afraid of ghosts than the average person, who gets roped in by the fearless Mechako to help revive her ghost-policing organisation. Subs cover Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, Thai, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.
Also returning that same day: The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You Season 3 (Bibury Animation Studios). Rentaro’s school life continues — and so does the show’s commitment to somehow adding more characters to an already packed ensemble. This one streams with a Thai dub alongside the full multilingual sub lineup.
Image courtesy of Bandai Namco Filmworks / Bibury Animation Studios
Grand Blue Dreaming Season 3 Goes to Palau — Starting 6 July
Image courtesy of NBCUniversal Anime/Music / Zero-G and Liber
Monday 6 July brings Grand Blue Dreaming Season 3 (Zero-G and Liber), and Iori’s diving-club chaos now has an international venue: Palau. Just as he is getting his head around university life, his cousin drags him off to help run a dive shop on the island. If you have seen seasons one and two, you already know what “help run a dive shop” means in this show. Streams with a Thai dub and subs in Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.
Joining it on 6 July is A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires (Comet), a Crunchyroll exclusive revenge fantasy in which noblewoman Elizabeth escapes prison — after being publicly betrayed by a crown prince — armed with seven legendary grimoires and a burning grudge to settle. Subs: Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, Thai, Vietnamese, SC, TC.
Grand Blue Dreaming Season 3 Full PV — via NBCUniversal Anime/Music on YouTube
The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects on 10 July
Closing out the wave on 10 July is The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects (animation studio42). Veteran soldier Dias returns from war expecting a reward, gets gifted a domain that turns out to be empty plains with a population of literally zero, and has to figure out how to build a thriving territory from nothing — with the help of a horned girl named Alna who knows the land better than she lets on. A kingdom-building fantasy with an unusually grounded hook, streaming with Thai dub and subs in Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, Vietnamese, SC, and TC.
For the full confirmed Summer 2026 anime schedule on Crunchyroll — including continuing titles like ONE PIECE Elbaph Arc Part 2, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 4, and more — the seasonal lineup page has the complete calendar. Browse more of our anime and manga coverage for the rest of what is streaming this season.
If the name Hiromu Arakawa means anything to you — and if you grew up watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, it absolutely should — mark this Saturday on your calendar. Daemons of the Shadow Realm (original Japanese title: Yomi no Tsugai / 黄泉のツガイ), Arakawa’s first major anime since FMA, arrives on Netflix Singapore on 4 July 2026, with the full first cour available for subscribers from day one.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm | Official Trailer 3 — via Crunchyroll on YouTube
What Is Daemons of the Shadow Realm?
Image courtesy of Bones Film / Project TSUGAI
The story centres on twins Yuru and Asa, separated at birth and raised in completely different worlds. Yuru grows up as a skilled hunter in a remote mountain village, while Asa is confined to a specialised role inside the same community. In this world, certain humans can bond with pairs of supernatural creatures called Daemons — and twins “born between day and night” are prophesied to wield greater Daemon power than anyone before them.
When Yuru and Asa are finally reunited, their abilities prove far beyond the prophecy’s scope, and the show quickly expands from its rural opening to reveal a modern society with its own agenda for the twins. The manga ran in Square Enix’s Weekly Shōnen Jump+ and Monthly Shōnen Gangan, and Arakawa has described the Daemon bond system as the kind of intuitive, relationship-driven power that drew her to alchemy in FMA — but taken in a new direction.
The Dream Team Behind It
The production is exactly what FMA fans have been hoping for. Bones Film — the studio behind Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Soul Eater, and My Hero Academia — handles animation. Director Masahiro Andō worked on the original 2003 FMA television series, giving him deep familiarity with Arakawa’s source material sensibility. Series composition is by Noboru Takagi, and music comes from Kenichiro Suehiro, whose recent credits include Vinland Saga and Delicious in Dungeon.
The voice cast is equally strong: Kensho Ono (Giorno Giovanna in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5) plays Yuru; Yume Miyamoto (Ochaco in My Hero Academia) voices Asa; and Yuichi Nakamura (Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen) appears as the enigmatic Dera. An English dub is available on Netflix from launch.
Netflix Arrival: Binge the Whole First Arc from 4 July
Image courtesy of Bones Film / Project TSUGAI
The anime originally premiered on Japanese television on 4 April 2026 and has been streaming simultaneously on Crunchyroll with a same-day English dub. Netflix is now bringing it to over 240 countries and territories (excluding Japan and Vietnam) starting 4 July. With the first cour of 12 episodes already fully aired, Singapore subscribers can watch the complete opening arc as a binge from day one — then pick up new episodes weekly on Saturdays as the second cour of the planned 24-episode run unfolds later in 2026.
In Southeast Asia, anime regional licensor Muse Communication holds distribution rights, and the simultaneous Netflix rollout means there are no region-lock concerns for Singapore viewers — the show will be right there in your Netflix library when you open the app on Saturday morning.
For fans who have been waiting for an Arakawa anime since Brotherhood concluded, this is the one. The combination of her world-building instincts, Bones Film’s action pedigree, and a voice cast drawn from the biggest titles of the past five years makes Daemons of the Shadow Realm the highest-stakes premiere of the Summer 2026 season. Check out our Manga & Anime section for more Summer 2026 coverage as the season ramps up.
With EVO 2026 closing out its final day in Las Vegas, the timing could not be better for the FGC to get its own anime. Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games (Japanese title: Taiari: Ojōsama wa Kakūtō Game Nante Shinai) premieres on Crunchyroll on 7 July 2026 — and it comes with an official Street Fighter 6 collaboration baked right into the adaptation.
Image courtesy of Diomedéa / Crunchyroll
Secret Arcade Sticks in an Elite Academy
The premise: Aya Mitsuki earns a scholarship to Kuromi Girls’ Academy, a prestigious institution where gaming is quietly understood to be beneath the student body. She soon discovers that Mio Yorue — the school’s universally admired “White Lily,” a student who seems almost too composed to be real — has been secretly destroying opponents in a competitive fighting game in an empty classroom after hours.
Neither girl can quite let go of what she saw. What unfolds is a rivalry, an unlikely friendship, and an underground tournament scene that the academy’s image managers would strongly prefer to remain invisible. The original manga by Eri Ejima has been running in KADOKAWA’s Monthly Comic Flapper since January 2020 and now spans 11 volumes — Seven Seas Entertainment holds the English-language rights for anyone who wants to read ahead before the simulcast.
Image courtesy of Diomedéa / Crunchyroll
Street Fighter 6 Is Literally in the Show
Here is the detail that sets this adaptation apart. In the source manga, the girls compete in a fictional game called Iron Senpai 4. For the anime, Diomedéa struck an official licensing deal with Capcom and replaced that entirely with real Street Fighter 6 gameplay footage — actual character-select screens, actual match UI, actual move animations. Each of the four main characters has a specific SF6 main: Aya plays Luke, Mio plays Ryu, Yū plays Ken, and Tamaki plays Juri. It is a level of integration that goes well beyond a casual cameo or a logo on a cabinet.
HORI and Mad Catz are both listed as cooperation partners on the production, which suggests exactly the kind of peripheral close-ups that FGC fans will recognise from their own setups.
Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games | Official Trailer — via Crunchyroll on YouTube
Cast and Crew
Image courtesy of Diomedéa / Crunchyroll
The adaptation is produced by Diomedéa (Himouto! Umaru-chan) and directed by Shōta Ihata, with series composition by Wataru Watari — the same writer behind My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU. Main cast:
Aya Mitsuki — Ikumi Hasegawa
Mio Yorue — Kana Ichinose
Yū Inui — Sayaka Senbongi
Tamaki Ichinose — Shino Shimoji
Crunchyroll screened a sneak-peek episode as part of its Anime Nights theatrical programme in June, ahead of the simulcast launch. Early viewer response has been largely positive, with advance coverage noting that the premiere episode delivers on its premise without overselling the drama.
On Crunchyroll from 7 July
Image courtesy of Diomedéa / Crunchyroll
Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games begins simulcasting on Crunchyroll on 7 July 2026, day-and-date with the Japanese broadcast on AT-X, Tokyo MX, MBS, BS NTV, and NBC. Singapore Crunchyroll subscribers can watch on day one. It joins a strong summer 2026 anime lineup — and as the only show this season where actual competitive fighting game matches are woven into the main drama, it is a natural follow-on watch for anyone who has spent the past few days glued to EVO 2026.
After a four-year wait between seasons, the most determined bookworm in anime is back — and she’s not slowing down. WIT Studio’s Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke returns for its second cour on 11 July 2026, and the freshly released third promotional video confirms the stakes are higher than ever for Rozemyne.
Official Cour 2 PV3 (Japanese) — via 読売テレビ アニメ公式 on YouTube
New Themes, New Trailer — What the Cour 2 PV3 Shows
The third PV, released on 27 June on the official production website, previews new scenes of Rozemyne wielding ever-expanding arcanist powers against formidable opponents, alongside both new theme songs for the second half. Kana Nishino — one of Japan’s best-selling solo artists — performs the new opening, Power of Love. Singer adieu (Moka Kamishiraishi) handles the ending song, titled Wanna me.
adieu shared her thoughts on the project, as reported by Anime Corner: “I am truly happy to be able to contribute musically to a series that has been loved for so many years,” adding that working on the anime “taught me that believing in the things you love is also believing in yourself.”
Image courtesy of Ascendance of a Bookworm Production Committee
What the Adopted Daughter of an Archduke Arc Is About
If you haven’t caught the series yet, here’s the short version: Ascendance of a Bookworm follows Myne, a book-obsessed woman reincarnated into a fantasy world with no printing press and rampant illiteracy. The early seasons tracked her ingenious (and endlessly resourceful) campaign to bring books to the commoner class. Season 4 vaults her fully into noble archduke territory, adapting Volumes 8–12 of Miya Kazuki’s light novel series (Japanese), now running to over 30 published volumes.
The Adopted Daughter arc places Rozemyne — voiced by Yuka Iguchi — in a world of high-nobility politics, arcanist magic academies, and increasingly complex power plays. Ferdinand (Sho Hayami) returns as her complicated mentor figure, and the Cour 2 trailer hints at confrontations that dwarf anything from the earlier arcs. Director Yoshiaki Iwasaki and series composer Mariko Kunisawa are back at the helm, with WIT Studio continuing their detailed, lush visual style.
Image courtesy of Ascendance of a Bookworm Production Committee
When and Where to Watch — Singapore Guide
Crunchyroll holds worldwide streaming rights for Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4, explicitly covering Singapore. New Cour 2 episodes premiere every Saturday at 4:30pm SGT starting 11 July 2026 — a prime afternoon slot that makes it easy to slot into your weekend watchlist. All 13 Cour 1 episodes are already live on Crunchyroll if you need to catch up. Seasons 1 through 3 are also available there, giving newcomers the full run from the beginning.
Image courtesy of Ascendance of a Bookworm Production Committee
For more summer 2026 anime hitting Crunchyroll in Singapore, browse our anime coverage.
