As another week wraps up, the Bam Smack Pow team is here once again to share the biggest anime news of the week that was. The spring 2025 anime season is quickly approaching, and this past week gave us a better look at what's in store.
With that in mind, let's take a look at the biggest stories of the past week:
HIDIVE announces spring 2025 debuts and dubs
Last week, Crunchyroll announced the bulk of its slate of new shows and upcoming dubs for the spring 2025 season. Now, rival anime streamer HIDIVE has announced its spring 2025 anime release schedule, with several series premiering and shows that previously aired in Japanese now receiving dubs.
HIDIVE has announced the following spring 2025 releases:
• Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentoushou — debuting Monday, March 31at 8:30 am Eastern.
• Rock is a Lady's Modesty — debuting Thursday, April 3 at 12:00 pm Eastern.
• Yandere Dark Elf: She Chased Me All the Way from Another World — debuting Sunday, April 6 at 12:05 Eastern.
HIDIVE has also announced several new dubs for their service as part of the spring 2025. Raunchy isekai comedy series Plus-Sized Elf began its dub on HIDIVE on Wednesday, March 12 and will air 14 episodes coinciding with the spring 2025 season. The upcoming dubs from HIDIVE include Beheneko: The Elf-Girl's Cat is Secretly an S-Ranked Monster! (debuting Wednesday, April 9) and From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated! (Wednesday, April 16).
Crunchyroll comes to Sakura-Con 2025
Crunchyroll has announced that the streaming and production company will be present at Sakura-Con 2025, April 18-20 in Seattle. So far, the platform has confirmed special premiere airings of the following anime:
• The Beginning After the End
• Solo Camping for Two
• Dekin no Mogura: The Earthbound Mole
• KONOSUBA Bonus Stage
• Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive?
• My Hero Academia Vigilantes
Sakura-Con is the largest anime convention in the Pacific Northwest and has run annually since 1998. More details about this year's iteration of the convention can be found on the Sakura-Con website here.
Nintendo and Sony announce live-action Zelda movie release date
Finally, news outlets including IGN are reporting news that isn't quite anime-related, but does concern one of the most internationally popular Japanese media franchises of all time: Nintendo and Sony's upcoming live-action The Legend of Zelda movie now has a release date.
First announced in late 2023 following the runaway success of the animated Super Mario Bros. Movie from Illumination, Nintendo's live-action Zelda movie will be produced by Sony Pictures. Using the new Nintendo Today app, Nintendo has revealed that the Zelda movie is currently scheduled to arrive in movie theaters on March 26, 2027.
At this early stage, details are still sparse. However, it has been confirmed that the Zelda movie will be directed by Wes Ball (The Maze Runner, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) and co-produced by Avi Avard (producer of the bulk of the pre-MCU Marvel movies including the original X-Men and Spider-Man series) and Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of most of Nintendo's key franchises including Zelda). No cast announcements have been made as of this writing
That's your recap of this week's biggest anime news. Check back soon for this week's anime recommendation, where we take a look at one of the most influential anime movies of the 1990s — and you can watch it for free!
In addition to bringing you the biggest and latest anime news, the Bam Smack Pow team is also here to make sure you never miss a thing happening in the Marvel and DC universes.
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