Restaurant to Another World (known as Isekai Shokudou in Japan) was a surprisingly big hit when it was released all the way back in 2017. It was popular with fans, rated highly on sites like MyAnimeList, and brought a whole new flavor to both the slice-of-life and fantasy genres of anime.

Despite its success, it took four years for the show to have a second season announced. Today on the show’s official website, it was officially announced that the series will begin airing on October 1st for the Fall 2021 anime season. They also dropped a new trailer that features a whole new character for fans to get excited over. Hilda is a demon mercenary based in the capital that is known as a “Night Strider” due to her expert abilities to work in the dark. She looks like a bit of a catgirl which will be exciting for certain fans.

The new trailer also showed off the season’s opening and closing songs, “Onnaji Kimochi” (Same Feeling) and “Samenai Mahō” (Warmed-Over Magic) respectively.

The show has a lot of new staff going forward into its second season as well. While Masato Jinbo of Chaos;Child fame is set to return as director, Yasukazu Shoji is replacing the two previous character designers for the show. They’re even changing the animation studio for the series, with OLM taking over for SILVER LINK.

It is likely that Crunchyroll will stream the series as it airs with Funimation airing the dub as they have done with the series previously. The anime will premiere on TV Tokyo and will also air on on TV Osaka and AT-X.

Ray William Johnson may not be the huge name on YouTube that he used to be but at one point Equals Three was one of the most popular programs on the platform. He would discuss viral videos on YouTube while cracking jokes and many consider Equals Three to be the predecessor that inspired popular shows like Ridiculousness and Tosh.0 today.

One of the most popular side projects to spawn from Johnson’s miniature media empire at the time was the musical project Your Favorite Martian. It was once the most subscribed to music channel on the entirety of YouTube and had sold over 1.2 million songs on iTunes. After a dispute with Maker Studios back in 2012 over AdSense revenue sharing on the project as well as future creative control, the album the band was working on was canceled.

Ever since then, the once-famous channel has been called THIS PROJECT IS RETIRED with the last song posted to the channel being Boom Headshot on September 21st, 2012. But now fans have seen some interesting activity over the last few days that show the band might actually be making a comeback after nine years of silence.

Recently, the band released a new album on Spotify titled, I Like Your Boobs, Will You Go to Prom with Me? on the platform — the title is a reference to one of their most popular songs Tig Ol’ Bitties. The album currently only contains nine previously released songs and none of the music that was promised in the thought to be canceled album the band announced back in 2012. The art also looks to be potentially stolen from Twitter user @saveraedae making fans question if the band’s account had simply been hacked.

However, a new channel called YFMVevo has also suddenly appeared on YouTube and is uploading videos from some of the songs on the album. The channel’s current description is, “Your Favorite Martian on Vevo – Official Music Videos, Live Performances, Interviews and more…” They also feature some of the videos that mysteriously vanished from the original Your Favorite Martian channel back in 2016 including the band’s first song My Balls.

Many fans were disappointed that Your Favorite Martian’s once promised album had never come out, especially with names like Miley Cyrus, Jonathon Davis, Snoop Dogg, and Mark Hamill attached to the project. While Johnson has continued to release new songs with his band The Upside Downs, fans are still longing for the once promised collection of songs to surface.

Is 2021 the year Your Favorite Martian finally makes its big comeback? Only time will tell. Ray William Johnson has currently not commented on the situation at this time.

Chances are that you’ve already seen one trailer for a movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch this week, with the first promo for Spider-Man: No Way Home racking up an incredible 355 million views in the first 24 hours it was available, generating plenty of buzz, hype, speculation and fan theories in the process.

While Netflix drama The Power of the Dog is only going to amass a fraction of that audience, it’s nonetheless shaping up to be one of the actor’s best-ever performances, which is no mean feat for an Academy Award nominee with a string of acclaimed roles under his belt.

First Image Revealed From Benedict Cumberbatch Netflix Drama The Power Of The Dog

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Directed by The Piano and The Top of the Lake‘s Jane Campion and adapted from the novel of the same name by Thomas Savage, the plot unfolds in 1920s Montana and follows Cumberbatch’s vengeful rancher Phil Burbank. Infuriated by the arrival of his brother on the property, who brings his new wife and her son with him after her first husband passed away, there’s tension right from the outset.

Family drama, friction and no shortage of tragedy will naturally ensue, and while the footage doesn’t give away too much plot-wise, it’s packing plenty of sweeping visuals and no shortage of atmosphere. The ensemble cast is stacked with established names and rising stars like Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee and more, with The Power of the Dog having plenty of potential to be an awards season contender for Netflix when it premieres on November 17th.

After painfully long COVID-induced delays, Marvel Studios is back in theaters with a vengeance. Black Widow arrived last month, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is coming in September, Eternals in November, and in December—my most anticipated MCU movie—Spider-Man: No Way Home. Now, after months of speculation as to which heroes and villains are in the movie, the first trailer has finally dropped (officially this time!) and we have some answers.

It seems the third MCU Spidey movie is going to be about the consequences of everyone knowing Spidey’s identity and him asking Doctor Strange to make a wish to undo it. The Homecoming and Far From Home core cast are all returning, but it’s the new additions that have really been raising eyebrows. Going into this trailer we already knew Benedict Cumberbatch’s Strange would be mentoring Spidey in the mystic arts, and that we’d see Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus appearing in the MCU.

Sadly there’s no sign in this trailer that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are sliding back into their Spidey suits. That’s not to say we can rule them out completely due to the magical shenanigans going on as a result of Peter’s wish, but they don’t appear here.

Tom Holland Is Bloody And Bruised In Spider-Man: No Way Home BTS Photo

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Fortunately, the film’s villains are looking fantastic. It’s great to see Doc Ock again, a flash of lightning is a hint towards Electro, and there’s a particularly tantalizing shot of a pumpkin bomb. That’s likely a nod to the long-awaited return of Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, whose cackling and sinister performance has launched a million memes since the original Spider-Man‘s 2002 release.

Right now it almost looks like Marvel Studios are trying to adapt the hated “One More Day” comics arc, where Peter makes a deal with the devil that costs him his marriage with MJ. If they can take the core idea of that story and make it actually work, then full credit to them.

If the finished product lives up to this trailer, it’ll be a good time even if the story gets a bit tangled. I also expect fans to pick through every frame of this trailer to spot the Easter Eggs and figure out how far the MCU as a whole is going to go into this brave new multiversal future. If you’ve spotted anything cool we missed, let us know in the comments.

Spider-Man: No Way Home will hit theaters on Dec. 17, 2021.

Big screen veteran Adrien Brody straddles the divide between character actor and leading man, applying himself to a plethora of projects which have garnered him global acclaim. He has been nominated innumerable times and won an Oscar in 1992 for his performance in The Pianist.

Over more than thirty years, he has collaborated with Terence Malick, M Night Shyamalan, and Woody Allen, among others. However, despite the esteemed company, he has formed the longest working relationship with Wes Anderson by far. Having appeared in no less than five of his eleven features, only Bill Murray and Owen Wilson have clocked up more mileage with the writer-director.

Equally at home on television or on film, there is a scope and range to his work which makes him one of the most versatile actors working today. Having appeared in Peaky Blinders and headlined mini-series Houdini, he has been instrumental in making things happen. His latest is no exception, as the actor has come on board to executive produce Chapelwaite, an adaptation of Stephen King’s short story Jerusalem’s Lot.

Taking center stage as widower Charle Boone, Adrien Brody brings his full range of skills to bare, providing this series with the foundation it requires. One part gothic horror, one part period drama, and with more than a little darkness thrown in, Chapelwaite proves to be a solid adaptation. Over the course of his time talking with Martin Carr, he opens up about those themes in more depth. Not only illustrating his passion for the projects he engages with, but demonstrating beyond doubt, why he remains one of the most interesting actors of his generation.

Chapelwaite streams on Epix from August 22^nd.   

Photo via Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes/YouTube

YouTube children’s show Cocomelon is absolutely blowing up right now. The channel recently obtained the sought-after title of most-viewed YouTube channel in the United States, alongside being the second-most subscribed to YouTube channel in the entire world.

This colorful, charming series is popular for a reason. It puts an engaging family at the center of its episodes, which use nursery rhymes and original children’s songs to keep young audiences engaged. The well-performed songs seek to educate Cocomelon’s audience on everything from letters, numbers, and colors to lessons about brushing your teeth and the importance of stretching and washing your hands.

The kids that flock to enjoy Cocomelon’s well-executed formula come back for the cheery and educational cast of characters. The majority of the show revolves around a young boy named JJ and his family as they go about their daily lives and teach viewers about a wide range of topics. JJ’s family consists of himself, his siblings YoYo and TomTom, his parents simply named Mom and Dad, and the family dog Bingo. As with any kids show, the character’s details tend to be a bit hazy, leaving many to wonder about the precise age of some of the characters.

Take YoYo, for example. Seemingly the eldest among the Cocomelon family, viewers can’t help but wonder how old this chipper redhead really is. Thankfully, we have the answers you seek. YoYo is canonically seven years old, but is not, in fact, the eldest Cocomelon kid. That title goes to TomTom, who scrapes past her with an entire additional year under his belt.

YoYo is one of the more artistic members of her family and is always eager to help. Her age places her right in the middle of her siblings, which helps her to maintain her position as a relatable and engaging character for kids of (nearly) all ages to enjoy. She is also the only female sibling, which additionally helps this fun and lively character to stand out.

Cocomelon‘s musically educational formula has served the series well. The channel, titled “Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes” currently has more than 117 million subscribers. The range of brightly colored videos on the page have gained Cocomelon more than 107 billion views over the years. Fans of the series flock to new uploads, which typically hit the page every few days, in droves, with most uploads earning a minimum of 5 million views. The series is so popular, in fact, that a Netflix adaptation was recently launched.

86 was a major success upon its initial release in the Spring 2021 anime season. Based on the light novel series by Asato Asato, its first cour (a quarter of the year) brought in countless viewers to engage with its intense mecha fights that wrapped around a story that discussed the horrors of racism and the danger of othering groups of people.

The series had announced a second cour of the show would be appearing in the Fall 2021 season but had not released further details about it until now. Today, the official website for the show released the first trailer for the second season of the show.

For those who haven’t seen the first season of the show, Yen press, the publisher of the light novel in English, describes the story as follows.

“The Republic of San Magnolia has been attacked by its neighbor, the Empire. Outside the 85 districts of the Republic there is the ‘non-existent 86th district,’ where young men and women continue to fight. Sheen directs the actions of young suicide bombers, while Lena is a “curator” who commands a detachment from a remote rear. The story of the tragic struggle between these two begins!”

The second season of 86 is set to premiere in October. The first season of the anime is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.

Natalie Wynn, more commonly known as Contrapoints, recently released a video after six months of her channel having zero uploads. Her 1.38 million subscribers, alongside many others apparently, were all eagerly awaiting for the video to drop as ‘Envy’ has already broken past 2 million views only 10 days after it was released.

‘Envy’ is the sequel to her September 2020 video called ‘Justice’ which covered punishment, abolition, and how that intersects with internet cultures. That 43-minute long video is currently sitting at 2,072,317 views while ‘Envy’ has already reached 2,070,029 despite its massive length of one hour and forty-eight minutes.

The new video covers the titular topic as well as resentment-based politics, and how that specifically interfaces with online cultures. “The whole internet is about jealousy. It creates such animosity between people because it’s all about people envying each other. It’s so unhealthy in every possible way,” she told The Guardian in an interview in June. She also discussed how she had been studying Buddism while preparing to make the video.

Love her or hate her, it is undeniable that Contrapoints holds particular sway in the niche YouTube community known as “BreadTube.” While she has been the center of controversy before, it looks like she’s taken the spotlight once again in a serious way.

Any kid who watched the Disney Channel back in the 90s is sure to remember Under Wraps. It was Disney’s first-ever Disney Channel Original Movie and their first horror-themed television film to boot. The wacky story of Marshal, Amy, and Gilbert befriending a zombie is a classic, if a bit cheesy, Halloween flick that no one had expected to get a remake.

Recently, Disney released a trailer for the movie that is set to star Christian J. Simon, Malachi Barton, Sophia Hammons, and Phil Wright. The story follows the basic premise of the original film with a much more modern feel.

Lauren Kisilevsky, Senior Vice President, Original Movies, Disney Branded Television, discussed her excitement over the movie being brought back to life.

“We are excited to welcome our audience back into the Halloween spirit and celebrate the unlikely friendship between three kids and a mummy as they embark on an adventure and ultimately save the day.”

Under Wraps is set to premiere on the Disney Channel in October 2021.

Just as one Star Wars animated series concludes, another one is just beginning. And this one is breaking new ground for the sci-fi saga. Hot on the heels of Star Wars: The Bad Batch wrapping up its first season is Star Wars: Visions, the franchise’s very first anime.

A nine-part anthology series, Visions comes from seven of the most acclaimed anime studios around, including Studio Colorido, TRIGGER, and Science SARU. And this gorgeous new trailer teases the kind of exciting action and top-quality animation we can expect from the show. Check it out via the player above.

Visions isn’t expected to adhere to established Star Wars canon too closely, as exec producer James Waugh has previously explained that the idea was to give creators “a wide creative berth” and let them explore the galaxy “through the unique lens of anime.”

Having said that, many episodes can be slotted into the timeline. Episode 2 Lop and Ocho—from Gene Studio—is set during the height of the Empire, in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Meanwhile, finale The Ninth Jedi explores what became of the Jedi Knights after The Rise of Skywalker.

All nine episodes will drop in one go on Disney Plus, instead of being released weekly, as with other Lucasfilm productions. A cool feature of its release is that it will debut with both English and Japanese voiceovers, so it’ll be left up to the individual viewer how they want to experience the show and to choose their preferred dub.

The Star Wars saga has always been influenced by elements of anime and Japanese culture as a whole, so it’s surprising it’s taken so long for a project like this to materialize. Thankfully, we don’t have too much longer to wait until Star Wars Visions gets here. Catch all nine episodes on Disney Plus when they launch on Wednesday, Sept. 22.