BODY: Fourteen films, three cinemas, four days, and one neighborhood that has quietly become Tokyo's anime capital. The Association of Japanese Animations has released the complete lineup and timetable for TOKYO ANIME NEXT, and the headline draw is exactly what you'd expect: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle, Chapter 1, the biggest Japanese box-office story of the past year, returning to the big screen.
The event runs October 30 to November 2, with the screening program concentrated on October 31 and November 1 across HUMAX Cinemas Ikebukuro, TOHO Cinemas Ikebukuro, and Grand Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro — 14 titles over 16 showings. The curation leans hard into range rather than recency. Alongside Infinity Castle sit Makoto Shinkai's Your Name, Mamoru Hosoda's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Studio Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, One Piece Film Gold, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, Sword Art Online Progressive, and the fan-canonized Crayon Shin-chan: The Adult Empire Strikes Back.
Several showings come with talk sessions attached. The November 1 screening of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising brings out character designer Yoshihiko Umakoshi and animators Yutaka Nakamura and Yoshihiro Oyabu — the kind of above-the-line animation talent that rarely shares a stage. Talk-show screenings are ¥2,500 and standard screenings ¥1,500, with general tickets going on sale via e-plus from 7:00 p.m. on October 20.
Less flashy but arguably more consequential is the free program: children's animation workshops, staff meet-and-greets, and a run of industry seminars and creator lectures on November 2, all allotted by lottery.
The insider take
Watch the venues, not the posters. AnimeJapan at Big Sight every March is the industry's commercial shop window; this is something different — an autumn event co-hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government with backing from Toshima Ward, planted in Ikebukuro rather than the Odaiba convention belt. Toshima has spent a decade rebranding itself around anime and the Hareza Ikebukuro complex, and AJA has spent the same decade warning about animator shortages and training gaps. A festival that pairs Demon Slayer ticket demand with free staff seminars isn't a coincidence — it's recruitment with a marquee attached.
Originally reported by コミックナタリー - 最新ニュース (Japanese).