It's the weekend once again, so the Bam Smack Pow team is here to bring you all the major anime news from the past week. Plus, we've got another recommendation for a cant' miss anime series for you to stream to close out June.
Since the end of June ends that 2025 is now half over, we'll also be sharing a recap of all the biggest anime from the first half of the year, so stay tuned for that.
McDonald's Japan announces '80s anime-theme ad campaign
「あしたも、笑おう。2025」#めぞん一刻 #きまぐれオレンジロード#マクロス #守屋麗奈 pic.twitter.com/0NrKnE4Dog
— マクドナルド (@McDonaldsJapan) June 27, 2025
Anime News Network is reporting on a forthcoming nostalgic ad campaign from McDonald's Japan. Set to the music of Coca-Cola Japan's '80s-era jingle, the classic anime-centric ad campaign features a montage of classic anime scenes interspersed with people enjoying McDonald's. Slated to launch in Japan on July 1, the ad campaign will feature the series Kimagure Orange Road and Maison Ikkoku, as well as the anime movie Macross: Do You Remember Love.
Anime News Network has also shared interview quotes from Rumiko Takahashi, creator of Maison Ikkoku — as well as several other of the most popular manga series of all time — and Macross director and co-creator Shōji Kawamori. Both creators speak highly of the nostalgic ad campaign, with Kawamori particularly noting how lucky he was to have included a scene of his characters eating hamburgers.
Although the original YouTube version of the preview video from McDonald's Japan, it has also been shared on X and we've posted that version above.
HIDIVE announces Summer 2025 schedule
With Summer 2025 just around the corner, we've been keeping a close eye on the announcements of the anime series debuting or returning during the season. Last week, we highlighted some of the major series on Crunchyroll's schedule. This week, we can share HIDIVE's Summer 2025 schedule. As of this writing, HIDIVE has announced the following Summer 2025 simulcasts:
• Call of the Night Season 2 — premiering Friday, July 4
• Bad Girl — premiere TBA
• Cour 2 of Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kinjin Gentoushou — premiere TBA
HIDIVE's announcement also notes that the reveal of the streaming service's Summer 2025 dubs is still forthcoming, but it has previously been announced that the English dub of I’m Living with an Otaku NEET Kunoichi!? which debuted on June 25, will run throughout the Summer and Fall seasons, with new episodes going live on Wednesdays.
New Lupin III movie opens in Japan
Crunchyroll is reporting that the latest movie in the long-running Lupin III franchise, one of the most popular and profitable media franchises in Japan, has opened in Japanese theaters. To celebrate the release of Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: Fujimi no Ketsuzoku, the film's production studio has released a series of trailers focusing on the franchise's iconic five main characters: Lupin himself, his INTERPOL rival Inspector Zenigata, his companions Jigen and Goemon and his wildcard occasional rival, occasional love interest Fujiko Mine.
The Lupin III franchise began in 1967 with the original manga series by mangaka Monkey Punch and has been going strong ever since. Notably, the Lupin III movie The Castle of Cagliostro was the directorial debut of Hayao Miyazaki. In addition to multiple anime series, theatrical releases and countless other pieces of media and merchandise, the franchise has averaged one new TV movie a year since 1990.
Weekly anime recommendation: Mieruko-chan
What would you do if you suddenly woke up one day with the ability to see ghosts? Well, if you're anything like Miko Yotsuya, you'd probably just try to ignore the problem until it went away.
And, if you're anything like Miko Yotsuya, you won't have much luck with that…
The title of Horror-Comedy series is a pun based on Miko's name and translates to something like 'Miss She-Can-See-Them.' The English subtitle of the series, "The Girl That Sees Them" is probably the best way to convey the idea in English.
While not quite as off-beat as Dan da Dan, Mieruko-chan has enough in common with the newer Horror-Comedy series. The design of the ghosts and monsters is fantastic and often legitimately creepy. On the flipside, the comedic moments in Mieruko-chan are legitimately funny, with the bulk of the comedy coming from Miko's attempts to act like she's not constantly surrounded by horrible monsters for the sake of her friends and family and a constant stream of moments demonstrating just how ridiculously unlucky Miko is. Both of these aspects are elevated by Miko's exasperated inner monologue and narration.
The anime adaptation only got a single 12-episode season, so it misses out on a lot of the original manga's storyline. Which is unfortunate, because the weirdest and most interesting supernatural aspects of the series only come into play after the storyline of the anime adaptation ends.
Although the Mieruko-chan manga is not available to read online, the physical version published by Yen Press is easily available from numerous online stores, including the Crunchyroll Store. The anime adaptation can be streamed online on Crunchyroll.
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