Anime viewers haveToei Animationto thank for some of their favorite shows, includingOne Piece, Sailor Moon, theDragon Ballfranchise, and many more. Sadly, their great success made them a target for hackers, who successfully infiltrated the studio’s internal systems on March 6, causing havoc along the way. With a heavy heart, Toei Animation had to postpone the release dates of several highly anticipated Anime, while they worked on rectifying the mess left behind by the criminal activity. Thankfully, the studio’s team has worked hard to ensure that fans do not have much longer to wait.
The hacker’s intentions were not previously made public, however, Toei Animation has now claimed that the event was a “ransomware” invasion - similar to a hostage situation, whereby the studio would have to pay the criminals to stop their undesirable activities. It is uncertain how long thehackers had access to Toei Animation’s systems, as the invasion began on March 6 but was only announced on March 11, right before new anime content stopped being released from the studio.
It remains unclear whether Toei Animation gave in to the hacker’s demands, or found a way to fight back, however important data was altered or erased in the process. The affected Anime were immediately postponed and, after a month of waiting, the new release dates have finally arrived - and April 17 looks to be a big day.
One Piecefans may be getting frustratedwith watching reruns, but Sundays will now finally start revealing new content, as episode 1014 will hit the screens on 17 April. It has been a long wait forOne Pieceviewers, as the show was already scheduled for a short break right before the studio was hacked, and the last episode, Yamato’s Past! The Man Who Came for the Sea Emperor, was released way back on March 6.
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Digimonfans suffered a similar fate, as the series also went on a small hiatus in early March, to make way for theNagoya Women’s Marathoncoverage on Fuji TV. Thankfully, theDigimon Ghost Game’slineup now looks like this:
Delicious Party Precureis also following the trend of an April 17 release date, and Kokone Fuwa fans can see the girls back in action with episode 6 titledSchool! Monster! Big Panic!? Target: Fried Shrimp!The last two episodes will air on April 24 and May 1, respectively, to tie up the first season of thisadorable Magic Girl Anime.
Dragon Questfans were left with a cliff-hanger of note as Dai and Hadlar were in the midst of an epic battle when episode 72 drew to a close. Luckily,Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Daiwill make a come-back slightly earlier than the rest.
Unfortunately, it appears that the most significant damage may have been focused on the highly anticipatedDragon Ball Super: Super Heromovie, which was due to be released on April 22. The hype has been building around this Shonen Anime film since October 2021, but no updates have been given regarding the new release date. It has, however, been officially declared that the correlatingDragon Ball SuperManga will not hit the shelves before the movie comes out, to avoid any spoilers flooding the internet.
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