Crunchyroll revealed a new teaser trailer for Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End season two and debuted the anticipated series Gachiakuta on Friday at Anime Expo.
Frieren Producer Yuichiro Fukushi was on hand to confirm that the show is currently in the middle of production on season two, and that Tomoya Kitagawa will also direct the season, which is slated to debut in January 2026. Fukushi was joined at the Friday event by voice actor Chiaki Kobayashi (Stark) and composer Evan Call, with Kobayashi performing a live reading of a scene from season one’s fifth episode, while Call took fans behind his approach to composing the show’s music alongside a live performance.
Reflecting on season one during the panel, Fukushi discussed the “huge challenge” of producing season one’s first 28 episodes, which he noted is “more volume than most seasons have in anime,” he told the packed crowd. “There was the volume aspect, but there was also where to divert our resources, if you will. Because every episode, every story, was just so pointed, so heartwarming, that I wanted to divert as much as I could.”
Discussing his own work with the show’s music on season one, Call noted that “when I was composing for this show, I wanted the music to not just be in the background,” he said. “I wanted to create it as some kind of additional character with the rest of the cast — maybe like the voice of the world, the feeling of the world.”
“It resonated with my musical roots, which started in bluegrass. While this is a bit different, the folk roots of my youth had a pretty good chance to shine,” he added.
Call, who shared that it was the manga’s “sentimental” feeling that encouraged him to join the project as well as its “premise — the adventure after the adventure,” later played for the crowd, highlighting how note choices gave the selected composition more emotional resonance or imbued into the song nods to specific characters. Frieren follows an elven mage as she journeys to the resting place of her former comrade to reunite with him after their hero party slayed the Demon King.
The panel was the second major Crunchyroll title to take over the con on Friday, following the U.S. premiere of Gachiakuta. The panel for that series — described as a trashpunk battlefield where a member of the floating city’s slums is thrown into a dumping ground after he’s falsely accused of murder a must team with a group of “Cleaners” to fight the discarded waste’s monstrous trash creatures — featured Kei Urana (manga story and illustration), Hideyoshi Andou (graffiti design), and Naoki Amano (studio Bones producer).
At the panel, the trio discussed how the title brought a graffiti artist and manga creator together, the adaptation process, memorable moments from making the show, and what makes the anticipated shonen battle action series so unique. “There are some scenes that were especially written for the anime series, as well as some of the expressions that are only possible in animation, so I want you guys to look forward to that,” Amano teased the crowd.
The Anime Expo screening of the first two episodes also aired simultaneously in 15 different cities in various countries, from France, Brazil, and Germany to Italy, Mexico, and India. A video highlighting an international marketing campaign that produced murals celebrating the series’ signature look was also previewed.
Ahead of the day’s final Crunchyroll panel and following the airing of The Apothecary Diaries’ season two finale in Japan, it was announced via social media that the popular series would also be getting a sequel. The series follows a young woman sold into service in the imperial palace who uses her knowledge of medicine and poisons to navigate palace intrigue.
