Another week has come and gone, so that means it's time once again for Bam Smack Pow team to bring you the most important anime news of the week that was. This past week featured several major anime debuts and returns. Keep reading below for the all details and the places to watch these debuting and returning anime series.
Before we get into the rest of the week's major anime news stories, a quick reminder that we previously reported that One Piece has returned for its lengthy production hiatus. The One Piece anime had been on hiatus since the fall with the conclusion of part one of the Egghead Island arc. As of Saturday, April 6 with the streaming debut of episodes 1123 and 1124, One Piece is back, bringing fans around the world the second half of the Egghead Island arc. New episodes go live on Saturdays and stream first for international audiences on Crunchyroll.
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX debuts
After first reaching audiences with the theatrical release of a compilation movie of the first several episodes of the series, the latest entry in the long-running Gundami franchise has hit streaming. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX debuted on Amazon Prime Video on Tuesday, April 8, with new episodes slated to go live every Tuesday on the streaming service.
GQuuuuuuX features a stylish, unique art style arising from the collaboration between Gundam's longtime studio Bandai Namco Filmworks (under its longtime previous name Sunrise) and Studio Khara (the successor of legendary studio Gainax, founded by Hideaki Anno, creator of Evangelion and writer of 2016's Shin Godzilla). In fact, this is the first time Bandai Namco Filmworks has collaborated with another studio on a Gundam series. GQuuuuuuX is also noteworthy for being the third Gundam series in a row to feature a female protagonist — previously, both instant classic Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury and the Unreal Engine 5-animated CGI spinoff Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance also had female leads.
Set in an alternate timeline based on the original Mobile Suit Gundam ending in a victory for the Principality of Zeon, the franchse's traditional antagonists, the storyline of GQuuuuuuX is kicked off by a chance encounter between the high school student Amate, the Gundam pilot Shuji and the mysterious smuggler known by the alias Nyaan, which finds the three drawn into an underground Mobile Suit fighting circuit known as Clan Battles.
The official Gundam Info website provides the following blurb for the series:
"Amate Yuzuriha is a high-school student living peacefully in a space colony floating in outer space. When she meets a girl named Nyaan, Amate is drawn into the illegal mobile suit dueling sport known as Clan Battle.
Under the entry name "Machu," she throws herself into fierce battle day after day, piloting the GQuuuuuuX. Then an unidentified Gundam mobile suit pursued by both the space force and the
police appears before her, along with its pilot, a boy named Shuji.
Now their world is about to enter a new era."
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in over 240 counties all around the world — the only two countries identified on the Gundam Info website where the series is not streaming are Japan and Vietnam.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes streaming now with same-day English dub release
Crunchyroll's announcement of the English cast for My Hero Academia spin-off series My Hero Academia: Vigilantes also broke the news that the series will stream new episodes with a same-day release of the English dub. The first episode went live on April 7 and new episodes are slated to go live on Mondays.
Crunchyroll's announced cast for the first episode of Vigilantes includes:
• Jack Broadbent as Koichi
• Jason Marnocha as Knuckleduster
• Macy Anne Johnson as Pop Step
• Christopher R. Sabat reprising his role from the main My Hero Academia series as All Might
Based on a manga series by writer Hideyuki Furuhashi and artist Betten Court, the Vigilantes anime series is directed by Kenichi Suzuki (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), written by Yosuke Kuroda (the main My Hero Academia series), features character designs by Takahiko Yoshida (Cells at Work) and a soundtrack from a collaboration between Yuki Hayashi, Shogo Yamashira and Yuki Furuhashi. The English crew includes Zach Bolton as the voice director and producer, Matthew Greenbaum providing the adapted English-language script, Nathanael Harrison as the mixer and Tina Son as the engineer.
Crunchyroll describes the series as follows:
"Koichi Haimawari is a dull college student who aspires to be a hero but has given up on his dream. Although 80% of the world’s population has superhuman powers called Quirks, few are chosen to become heroes and protect people. Everything changes for Koichi when he and Pop☆Step are saved by the vigilante Knuckleduster and get recruited to become vigilantes themselves!"
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is streaming on Crunchyroll.
Demon Slayer TV specials now streaming on Crunchyroll
To help fans catch up on the series before the beginning of the final story arc hits international theaters later with year with Infinity Castle, Crunchyroll has announced that the five Demon Slayer specials that originally aired in Japan as recaps of the anime's previous story arcs are now available to stream on the service.
On the one hand, Crunchyroll is pitching the five specials as the perfect for fans to catch up on Demon Slayer. On the other hand, Crunchyroll also streams the entire Demon Slayer anime series complete and unabridged, along with other Demon Slayer spin-offs, including the live stage show that has previously toured Japan. Crunchyroll will also be collaborating with Sony Pictures Entertainment to bring Infinity Castle to theaters all around the world later this year, with the announced release dates including:
• September 11 in Australia, the Caribbean, Central America, most South American countries, Thailand and parts of Europe
• September 12 in Canada, the US, the UK, India, Kenya and the parts of Europe not covered other release dates
• September 17 in the French-speaking parts of Africa and Europe
• September 25 in the German-speaking parts of Europe
The full list of release dates for Infinity Castle can be read on the official website for the Demon Slayer anime.
Weekly Anime Recommendation: Laid-Back Camp
The anime genre that has come to be known as Cute Girls Doing Cute Things is exactly what it sounds like. Although there's a large breadth in the genre of what exactly those cute things are — K-On! is about a school music club in a rock band, Azumanga Daioh is about a group of six friends in high school having a lot of really silly escapades, Flying Witch is about the daily life of a novice witch — the genre in general is always, laid-back and focused on the characters living their day-to-day and dealing with day-to-day problems, rather than any huge, high-stakes adventure or conflicts.
With a name like Laid-Back Camp, it's not exactly surprising that it's one of the best examples of the genre. The anime follows the three members of the Outdoor Activities Club: Nadeshiko, Chiaki and Aoi — and Rin, who consistently finds excuses not to actually join the Club, but still accompanies them on their trips and befriends the members of the club — as they prepare for and then go on their camping trips. The main group of characters is quirky enough that there's a lot of humor in their interactions, especially because Rin is so serious and not quirky in comparison to the others.
The most interesting part of Laid-Back camp is that is actually presents really useful information about camping, things like how to put together a tent, how to safely start and extinguish a fire, how to keep warm in cold weather. The series also offers some really interesting deep dives into the history and landmarks of the various popular camping sites throughout Japan.
On top of that, Laid-Back Camp is just simply a very well-executed series. In fact, it has been nominated for Best Slice of Life Anime at the 2025 Anime Awards. Interested fans can vote for that and all the other categories at Crunchyroll's page for the Anime Awards here.
As always, check back with us here on Bam Smack Pow for the biggest anime news every week. In the meantime, keep coming back for all the latest in the worlds of Marvel, DC and comic books in general!