AiNA THE END Unleashes “Luminous” with Stunning Music Video and 2026 Tour Dates

AiNA THE END’s new song “Luminous” has arrived as the latest opening theme for One Piece, alongside a new music video and fresh Asia tour dates. The release ties into the anime’s Elbaf Arc and adds more momentum to the singer’s growing international reach.

Aina the End Luminous If you haven’t listened to AiNA THE END’s new song “Luminous”, the opening theme for One Piece, it’s now available on streaming platforms and through its music video on YouTube. The track can be heard in the anime’s latest story arc, which debuted on April 5, 2026, on Crunchyroll. This new chapter sends Luffy and the crew into a storyline involving giants.

The music video also reunites AiNA THE END with director G2 YUKI TSUJIMOTO, who previously worked on “革命道中 – On The Way”. That song served as the opening track for DAN DA DAN Season 2 and surpassed 200 million global streams across major platforms. It was also featured on Spotify’s Viral Top 50 Global chart, marking a major breakthrough for the artist both in Japan and abroad.

Continue reading “AiNA THE END Unleashes “Luminous” with Stunning Music Video and 2026 Tour Dates”

The Yeti

The Yeti delivers a chilly pulp horror adventure with strong atmosphere, striking locations, and a monster that feels genuinely dangerous. While the story could use a bit more bite, the film’s practical creature work and old-school menace make it a fun throwback.

The Yeti (2026)Well GO USA
Coming to Digital on April 10th.

It’s rare to find a creature feature that treats its monster as a genuine threat rather than a tourist attraction, but The Yeti earns that by framing things as a pulp adventure set in Alaska, where the creature is very much unknown and deadly. What plays out feels more like Predator than anything else, and that’s exactly the energy these legends deserve. After Merriell Sunday Sr. (Corbin Bernsen) and Hollis Bannister (William Sadler) disappear in the wilderness, it falls to Junior (Eric Nelsen) and Ellie (Brittany Allen) to find them and unravel a conspiracy worthy of a pulp horror novel.

The set design and visual aesthetics feel straight out of Agent Carter, and like that series, our heroine wins the spotlight by simply refusing to be sidelined. Even Evie from The Mummy would recognise the uphill climb of earning respect in that era, and the film explores that thesis without ever overstating it. Rather than constantly needing to prove herself, Ellie just handles whatever comes her way, even in the direst of circumstances.

Continue reading “The Yeti”

Can Dagger of Kamui Still Impress in This Blu-ray Release?

A landmark Madhouse production, Dagger of Kamui remains a sweeping ninja epic with striking animation, strong historical scope, and a soundtrack that still hits with force. This Blu-ray edition sharpens the presentation and adds enough new value to make it worth another look.

The Dagger of Kamui Blu-Ray ArtMediaOCD Release
Available to purchase on Amazon USA

Any fan of Madhouse Animation‘s vast catalogue should take another look at Dagger of Kamui. Not only is it a seminal work that shows what this studio loves best, it’s a strong early showcase for their visual style. From Neo Tokyo to Paprika, they covered a lot of ground over the decades, and more recent productions like Goodbye, Don Glees! show they never really stopped pushing.

This 1985 film was an early feature effort for director Rintaro, but what he brought to make this ninja epic a genuine classic is a soundtrack that follows the rhythm of each act. Whether that’s the folk-tinged percussion of a sequence involving people living much like the Ainu of northern Japan, the whistle of the Wild West, or the rock-inflected energy that underscores the Edo-period chaos, the score is a big reason this film still holds up.

Continue reading “Can Dagger of Kamui Still Impress in This Blu-ray Release?”

What Really Spooks Janur Ireng, Sewu Dino the Prequel Isn’t Just a Curse

Kimo Stamboel’s Janur Ireng, Sewu Dino the Prequel sinks its claws into family rot, black magic, and inherited dread, delivering a culturally rich horror film that feels bleak, grotesque, and deeply unsettling.

Janur Ireng Movie PosterIf Kimo Stamboel had approached Janur Ireng, Sewu Dino the Prequel like Poltergeist, it might have lost me. Instead, what we get is something far more rooted in legacy, with a deep dive into a family’s past and the origins of the black magic that poisons it. The plantation setting isn’t just aesthetic; it matters, tying the horror to land, inheritance, and something festering beneath both.

Even without having seen Sewu Dino, this prequel is clearly building the bones of something larger. The film takes its lore seriously, pulling from Javanese beliefs and blending them with Christian imagery, especially through the recurring goat symbolism. Less concerned with explaining every detail, it’s more interested in letting that uneasy fusion of traditions sit under your skin.

Continue reading “What Really Spooks Janur Ireng, Sewu Dino the Prequel Isn’t Just a Curse”

Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes Bonus Cut! And Captain Cannabis (Part Two)

Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes continues with Verne Andru tackling long-standing fan debates, from production myths to lost material, while outlining how his documentary aims to preserve a fragile piece of Canadian animation history.

Verne Andru and Captain Cannabis
Part one of our interview can be read here.

Support Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes, and get some wild extras!

In part two of our interview with Verne Andru, we look at questions fans hope the documentary will answer. Long-time fans have burning questions, and given that most of the original material was lost to a fire that Verne confirmed, what remains needs to be more than a nostalgia hit. It is a chance to look back at how technologies merged to create the cult work that Rock and Rule became, right as Hollywood was running its own experiments with transitional optical effects in films like Tron and The Last Starfighter.

What is the biggest myth about Rock & Rule that you want to address?

The studio said that the launch failed because of MGM/UA not backing it. While there may be some truth to that, it misses the point that they delivered an unfinished film years late and millions over budget. It was Nelvana’s fault, nobody else.

Continue reading “Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes Bonus Cut! And Captain Cannabis (Part Two)”

Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes, The KickStarter. An Interview with Verne Andrusiek (Part One)

Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes dives into the legacy of the cult Canadian animated film through Verne Andrusiek’s firsthand insights, exploring its production struggles, analog artistry, and why a true restoration may never happen.

Fan Expo Vancouver Rock and RuleView the Kickstarter here

Verne Andrusiek
is just one of the amazing talents who helped breathe visual life into a seminal Canadian animated classic, Rock and Rule. For the later part of his entertainment career, he went by the shorter version of his last name, and not everyone made the connection. With this Nelvana Entertainment film recognized as a cult work in the Canadiana hall of fame, anyone asking for a release will be in for a disappointment. A remaster is not likely to happen. What Verne preserved at home, though, will become part of the backbone of Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes, a video documentary that includes interviews with the directors and writers of this project. He announced this project to folks visiting his booth during Fan Expo Vancouver 2026!

With a crowdfunding campaign launching April 6, 2026, he also hopes to put some long-running fan debates to rest. He put it this way: “I became a bit of a jack-of-all-trades over my career going from music to electronics, art, film and computers in large part due to times, the 1950s through to 1980 were a period of dramatic change when not much of anything we take for granted today existed. Basically, if you wanted something you had to figure out how to do it yourself because there were no off-the-shelf solutions.”

Continue reading “Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes, The KickStarter. An Interview with Verne Andrusiek (Part One)”