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Crunchyroll acquires global rights to Makoto Shinkai mystery film. August 11, 2026 Crunchyroll has acquired the worldwide distribution rights (excluding Asia, with the exception of India) to the next feature film from acclaimed filmmaker Makoto Shinkai, with Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment to co-distribute. The director is widely regarded as one of the most influential and successful animation filmmakers working today. Plot details, along with the title and release date, for the upcoming film are not being disclosed at this time. Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures previously partnered on the global distribution of Shinkai's Suzume (2023), which grossed over $300 million worldwide and received critical acclaim, including a Golden Globe nomination. Suzume premiered in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival - the first anime feature to do so in decades - further cementing Shinkai's status as a globally recognized auteur. Shinkai's prior works - including Your Name. and Weathering With You - have achieved both major commercial success and international recognition, helping to redefine the global reach of Japanese animation. Your Name. (2016) became a worldwide phenomenon and one of the highest-grossing anime films of all time, while Weathering With You (2019) was Japan's official submission for the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. Makoto Shinkai was born in Nagano Prefecture in 1973. In 2002 he debuted his self-produced short-film Voices of a Distant Star, which won many awards starting with the Tokyo International Anime Fair 21. In 2004 he created his first full-length movie The Place Promised in Our Early Days to great acclaim, which went on to win Best Animated Film at the 59th Mainichi Film Concours. In 2007 he released 5 Centimeters Per Second, which won Best Animated Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, as well as the Lancia Platinum Grand Prize at Italy's Future Film Festival. In 2011, Children Who Chase Lost Voices was released in theaters nationwide and presented internationally as a work unlike the world had ever seen before, winning the "Golden Monkey King" Award at the 8th China International Cartoon and Animation Festival. In 2012 he received a Letter of Appreciation from the Cabinet Secretariat's National Policy Unit as one of the "Global Messengers of Japan". In 2013 he released, The Garden of Words, which won Best Anime Feature Film at Germany's Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film. Also that year, he was awarded the Shinmai Select Prize. In 2016, Your Name. was released to great commercial success, becoming the second-highest-grossing Japanese film. At the 40th Japan Academy Film Prize, it won Excellent Director of the Year and Screenplay of the Year, a first for an animated film. Also critically acclaimed overseas, Your Name. won many awards including Best Animated Feature Length Film at the 49th Sitges Film Festival, as well as Best Animated Film at the 42nd Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. In 2019, Weathering With You won Animation of the Year at the 43rd Japan Academy Film Prize and was selected as the Japanese entry for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards. 2022's Suzume marked his third film in a row with over 10 million domestic attendance. It also received high domestic and international regard, being selected for competition at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival and nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 81st Golden Globe Awards.

Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Entertainment to release Makoto Shinkai's next movie. Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Entertainment previously partnered on the release of Suzume in 2023. Crunchyroll is announcing today that it has acquired the worldwide distribution rights (excluding Asia, but including India) for Makoto Shinkai's next feature film, with Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment to co-distribute. Additional details about Shinkai's next movie, including the title, release date and further story information, were not revealed at the time of the announcement. Shinkai's previous theatrical directorial works include The Place Promised in Its Early Days (2004), 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007), Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011), The Garden of Words (2013), Your Name (2016), Weathering With You (2019) and SuzumeOpens in a new tab (2022). Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment previously partnered on the worldwide release of Suzume in 2023. Crunchyroll currently streams Shinkai's latest film, and describes the story: When high schooler Suzume Iwato runs into mysterious and devastatingly handsome out-of-towner Souta, her whole world changes. Intrigued with what he's up to, she discovers an abandoned building with a mysterious door holding a dark supernatural force inside it. To her surprise, these mystical entrances are opening across Japan, in more of its long-forgotten regions. Able to see the supernatural forces that others can't, she teams up with Souta to save Japan by finding the doors and closing them. Before long, doors open one after another across Japan. Guided by the mysterious doors and Daijin, Suzume's journey to lock the doors leads her across the country's islands. What awaits on her mission is unexpected help in the form of a forgotten truth. Kyle Cardine is the Global Editor-in-Chief for Crunchyroll News.

Crunchyroll to stream ELECEED, FX Fighter Kurumi-chan, and more anime. Airing in October 2026 or early 2027. Published: August 1, 2026 Crunchyroll has announced a new batch of anime that it will stream upon release, such as ELECEED, FX Fighter Kurumi-chan, and more, during AnimagiC 2026. The anime will air on the service throughout October 2026 and early 2027. The full list includes the following: ELECEED. Release Date: Early 2027 Territories: Worldwide, excluding Japan and China Synopsis, via WEBTOON: Jiwoo is a kind-hearted young man who harnesses the lightning quick reflexes of a cat to secretly make the world a better place - one saved little child or foster pet at a time. Kayden is a secret agent on the run, who finds himself stuck in the body of a...um...decidedly fat old fluffy cat. Together, armed with Jiwoo's super powers and Kayden's uber-smarts, they're out to fight those forces who would let evil rule this world. That is, if they can stand each other long enough to get the job done. FX Fighter Kurumi-chan. Release Date: October 2026 Territories: North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, CIS and India Synopsis: University student Kurumi Fukuga has finally fulfilled her long-held desire of starting foreign exchange (FX) trading, motivated by recouping the 20 million yen her late mother lost in trading. "I'll easily make it back," she thought, but the world she enters can become heaven or hell in an instant. Unrealized losses, loss-cutting, unstoppable fluctuations... but she still wants to buy, sell and make money! With fellow FX addicts Mochiko, Mebuki and Yasuko along for the ride, the market heats up! Joy, despair, joy, despair - this is an endearing, yet slightly risky money game. Can Kurumi and her friends survive this turbulent world? Release Date: January 2027 Territories: North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East and CIS Series synopsis: Rakuro Hizutome only cares about one thing: beating crappy VR games. He devotes his entire life to these buggy games and could clear them all in his sleep. One day, he decides to challenge himself and play a popular god-tier game called Shangri-La Frontier. But he quickly learns just how difficult it is. Will his expert skills be enough to uncover its hidden secrets? Release Date: October 2026 Territories: North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East and CIS Series synopsis: The Arnold Academy of Sorcery for society's most elite has just received their first commoner student: Ray White. Despite the contempt he's received, Ray's managed to befriend an eclectic group of classmates that get him into all sorts of schemes. But the pressures of maneuvering teenage drama is half his worries, as he secretly is the most powerful sorcerer...the Iceblade Sorcerer! Release Date: October 2026 Territories: North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East and CIS Synopsis, via K Manga: Rein the Enchanter is a support mage with the ability to enhance weapons and armor. But when he gets fired from his guild for the simple reason that he's already enchanted everything they own, he decides to take the power back into his own hands - literally! Rein recalls every enchantment he ever put on his guildmates' gear, retrieving the bonus points for himself. But does he really not have anything better to enchant with them than some Plain Clothes and a Copper Sword...? Come along on a cheat-tier journey from the most common of common origins! Uncle's obsession with cute things. Release Date: October 2026 Territories: North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, CIS and Indian Subcontinent Synopsis: Focusing on Mitsutaka Oji, a cool and capable middle-aged man hiding his adorable secret, the heartwarming comedy celebrates adults who embrace their love for cute things.