Image courtesy of Bandai Namco Filmworks
© 2026 Shirow Masamune/KODANSHA/THE GHOST IN THE SHELL COMMITTEE
Entertainment news website Deadline reported on Friday that Amazon’s Prime Video revealed at the “Prime Video Presents: International Originals” presentation in London that it will stream the The Ghost in the Shell (Kōkaku Kidōtai THE GHOST IN THE SHELL) Hokuto no Ken -Fist of the North Star- anime, and the second season of the From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman anime.
Prime Video will stream The Ghost in the Shell, Science SARU’s new The Ghost in the Shell television anime series, worldwide, except Russia and China. Prime Video will stream the anime in Japan as an early exclusive for a period of time.
The anime will debut in July on “Ka-Anival!!,” Kansai TV and Fuji TV’s new anime programming block that airs on Tuesday nights at 11:00 p.m.
Mokochan (storyboarder, key animator for DAN DA DAN, The Heike Story, Tatami Time Machine Blues) is making his directorial debut with the anime at Science SARU. Toh Enjoe (The Empire of Corpses novelist; Space Dandy, Godzilla Singular Point scripts) is both writing and overseeing the series scripts. Shūhei Handa (Little Witch Academia TV series, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Spriggan ONA) is designing the characters and also serving as chief animation director. Taisei Iwasaki (BELLE) is serving as music director, and is composing the music along with Ryō Konishi (Journal with Witch theme song) and Yuki Kanesaka (Dr. Stone).
A producer on the project stated at Anime Expo last July that the anime will stay true to the original manga.
Bandai Namco Filmworks, Kodansha, Science SARU, and Production I.G are on the production committee for the series.
Image via Fist of the North Star anime’s X/Twitter account
© Buronson&Tetsuo Hara/Coamix, HOKUTO Committee
Hokuto no Ken -Fist of the North Star-, the new anime of Buronson and Tetsuo Hara’s landmark manga Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken), will stream worldwide on Prime Video. The anime will premiere in 2026.
The new anime announcement commemorates the series’ 40th anniversary. The staff stated that the CG-based anime will be more true to the original work.
The manga’s story is set in a post-apocalyptic world. The story centers on a man named Kenshiro, a master and successor to a deadly martial art, as he wanders the nuclear wasteland protecting the weak and innocent from violent thugs. In his travels, he must contend with other master martial artists and figures from his past, including his “brother” Raoh, who has crowned himself the king of the new world.
The original manga ran in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1983 to 1988. Viz Media began publishing the manga in a new edition digitally and physically in June 2021.
The Fist of the North Star television anime ran for two seasons from 1984 to 1988 and had 152 episodes. The manga has inspired several other television anime, films, and spinoff anime.
Image via Comic Natalie
©佐賀崎しげる・鍋島テツヒロ／SQUARE ENIX・「片田舎のおっさん、剣聖になる」製作委員会
The second season of the television anime of Shigeru Sagazaki’s From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman (Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga Ore o Hōttekurenai Ken) light novel series will debut in July 2026 on TV Asahi and its affiliates, as well as on BS Asahi.
The anime’s returning staff include Akio Kazumi (Loner Life in Another World, Fist of the Blue Sky Regenesis), who will again direct the series at Passione and Hayabusa Film. Kunihiko Okada (The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, By the Grace of the Gods season 2) is back in charge of series scripts, Satsuki Hayasaka (The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki) is returning to design the characters, and also returning as chief animation director. Yasuharu Takanashi (Baki Hanma vs. Kengan Ashura, Fairy Tail) is again composing the music.
The anime’s first season premiered in April 2025, and is streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video worldwide.
Source: Deadline (Jesse Whittock)
Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc. (Sunrise) is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.
