A host of new anime series and sequels to popular shows like Solo Leveling and Ruruoni Kenshin were announced during this year’s Aniplex Online Fest on Monday.
The annual online anime festival opened with the announcement of Solo Leveling Season 2 and its release date. The sequel to the anime series based on South Korean writer Chugong’s web novel will drop in January 2025.
The makers shared a key visual for the upcoming instalment of Solo Leveling featuring the protagonist Sung Jin-woo. They also surprised fans by announcing that a theatrical film featuring a recap of Season 1 of the anime and the first two episodes of the sequel will be released in November this year.
A sequel to the spin-off series Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online based on the 2012 anime is slated to premiere on October 4 on Crunchyroll. Adapted from the novels by Keiichi Sigsawa and Kohaku Kuroboshi, the second season will continue the story of LLenn, a female avatar in the virtual reality game Gun Gale Online. As a mysterious new player named Death Bullet wreaks havoc, LLenn teams up with her friends to confront the threat.
Blue Exorcist Season 4 will start streaming on Crunchyroll from October 5. The trailer unveiled at the event shows Rin Okumura, a half-demon exorcist, and his friends returning to True Cross Academy after defeating the Impure King. They embark on a new adventure to take down Lucifer of the Illuminati, who declares war to merge the human and demon realms to resurrect Satan.
Fate/strange Fake, based on the Japanese light novel series in the popular Fate franchise, will have its world premiere in Los Angeles in November this year. First-look character visuals of Tiné Chelc, Wolf and Lancer were unveiled by the makers during the event.
Both anime and K-pop fans are in for a treat as a new anime series Dark Moon: The Blood Altar has been announced. It features members of the South Korean boy band ENHYPEN. The upcoming show is based on a webtoon written and illustrated by HYBE, a multinational entertainment company that manages leading K-pop bands like BTS, TXT and Seventeen.
An anime adaptation of mono, written by Laid-Back Camp author Afro, will premiere in 2025. It will follow the adventures of Satsuki, An and Sakurako as they merge their photography and cinema clubs into a “cinephoto” club to save the two communities from shutting down.
Aniplex Online Fest 2024 concluded with the announcement of the second season of Ruruoni Kenshin, a re-adaptation of the manga which was originally adapted in 1996. The upcoming season will be based on the Kyoto Arc of the manga and will delve into the past of the legendary assassin Kenshin Himura.
