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Anime “KAGURABACHI” Casts Katsuyuki Konishi as Togo Shiba; Cast Comments, Character Visual & Trailer Revealed!

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~ Crunchyroll Simulcast Confirmed! “Kagurabachi” Anime World Tour Part 1 Confirms Premiere Screening at Otakon! ~

TOKYO, June 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Anime Kagurabachi, based on a next-generation flagship title from Weekly Shonen Jump, has announced that Katsuyuki Konishi has been cast as Togo Shiba. Alongside this announcement, cast comments, a character visual, and a character trailer have been unveiled.

Furthermore, Anime Kagurabachi series will be available to stream worldwide outside of select Asian territories on global anime brand Crunchyroll.
Additionally, there are new updates for “Kagurabachi” Anime World Tour Part 1, which is set to kick off in July. An additional premiere screening at Otakon has been confirmed, and new event details for Anime NYC have been announced.

Kagurabachi (Original Author: Takeru Hokazono), currently serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump, has surpassed a cumulative circulation of 4 million copies.
A stellar team of creators has been assembled for the project. Production will be handled by CyberAgent group company animation studio, Cypic (Umamusume: Cinderella Gray, The Summer Hikaru Died), the anime boasts an all-star staff, including Director Tetsuya Takeuchi (Action Animation Director on Sword Art Online II, Battle Scene Storyboards/Episode Director/Animation Director on Heavenly Delusion) and Character Designer Keigo Sasaki (Blue Exorcist, The Seven Deadly Sins). The protagonist, Chihiro Rokuhira, is voiced by Taihi Kimura, winner of the Best New Actor award at the 2025 Seiyu Awards.

Katsuyuki Konishi Cast as Togo Shiba!
Katsuyuki Konishi will play Togo Shiba, a veteran sorcerer with a long-standing relationship with the Rokuhira family. To commemorate the announcement, comments have arrived from Konishi.

Full Comments from Katsuyuki Konishi:

Q. What are your impressions of the character you voice, and what did you keep in mind while voicing them?
To me, Shiba is the kind of guy who’s carefree on the surface, but deep down, has a solid core and real strength.
I worked with the staff to make sure my performance wasn’t overdoing it, and instead focused on bringing out the effortless confidence of someone who is genuinely powerful.
I still threw in a few quirky touches here and there, though! I hope they help make Shiba a breath of fresh air for the audience.
Above all, I hope you can really feel how much he cares about the Rokuhiras, both father and son!
It’s a really tough role to play (lol), but it’s incredibly fun!!

Q. How did you feel when you were cast, and what are your thoughts on the anime?
I first read Kagurabachi when the first volume of the manga was released, and I knew right then that if it ever got an anime adaptation, I absolutely wanted to be a part of it. Now that my dream has come true, I couldn’t be happier. I’m so excited to see what kind of anime it turns out to be.

Q. What were your thoughts when you first read the manga?
Both the characters and the story are so gritty and cool! It felt like watching a movie. What struck me the most when reading the manga, though, was how beautifully the goldfish were depicted. I can’t wait to see how they are brought to life in the anime.

Q. What is Shiba’s greatest charm?
His elusive, hard-to-pin-down vibe is just really cool. His demeanor—or rather, his way of life—acts as a perfect cushion for such a gritty story. I really feel he’s an essential character in this tale of revenge.

Q. How would you describe the appeal of the series in one phrase?
“Cinematic, revenge-driven swordplay action.”

Togo Shiba Character Visual & Trailer Unveiled!

Character Introduction
A veteran sorcerer and long-time friend of the Rokuhira family. Following Kunishige’s death, he helps Chihiro in his quest for revenge. Despite his easygoing nature, his true strength is immeasurable. He used to be a member of the Kamunabi, the government’s sorcerer organization.

Togo Shiba Character Trailer:
English: https://youtu.be/QgcXQmhA2Bw /
Japanese: https://youtu.be/SelgdhzMA6Q

“Kagurabachi” Anime World Tour Part 1 Confirms Otakon; Additional Details Revealed for Anime NYC!

“Kagurabachi Anime World Tour Special Site
https://anime.kagurabachi.jp/en/worldtour/

[Anime Expo] “Kagurabachi Anime World Tour – World Premiere Screening at Anime Expo

Location: Los Angeles
Date & Time: Friday, July 3, 2026
                      4:45 – 6:05 PM PDT
Venue: Los Angeles Convention Center (Room: JW Marriott Diamond)
Details:
– Screening of the first 20 minutes of Episode 1
– Special appearance by anime cast and staff
Panel Session Guests:
Taihi Kimura (as Chihiro Rokuhira), Takuro Imamura (Editor of “Kagurabachi” Manga), Koichi Yasuda (Producer of “Kagurabachi” Anime) *Honorifics omitted
* Event details are subject to change or cancellation without notice.
Official Website: https://www.anime-expo.org

[Japan Expo] “Kagurabachi” Anime World Tour – Premiere Screening at Japan Expo

Location: Paris
Date & Time: Thursday, July 9, 2026
                      3:30 – 4:30 PM CEST
Venue: Parc des Expositions de Paris-Nord Villepinte (Room: Yuzu Stage)
Details:
– Screening of the first 20 minutes of Episode 1 
– Special appearance by anime staff
Panel Session Guests:
Riki Azuma (Cross-Media Producer of “Kagurabachi” Manga), Koichi Yasuda (Producer of “Kagurabachi” Anime) *Honorifics omitted
*Event details are subject to change or cancellation without notice.
Official Website: https://www.japan-expo-france.jp/

[AnimagiC] “Kagurabachi” Anime World Tour – Premiere Screening at AnimagiC

Location: Mannheim
Date & Time: Saturday, August 1, 2026
                      10:30 -11:00 PM CEST
Venue: Rosengarten Mannheim (Room: Mozart Hall)
Details:
– Screening of the first 20 minutes of Episode 1 
*Event details are subject to change or cancellation without notice.
Official Website: https://animagic.de/

[Otakon] “Kagurabachi” Anime World Tour – Premiere Screening at Otakon

Location: Washington, DC
Date & Time: Sunday, August 2, 2026  *Time to be announced
Venue: Walter E. Washington Convention Center
Details:
– Screening of the first 20 minutes of Episode 1 
*Event details are subject to change or cancellation without notice.
Official Website: https://otakon.com/

[Anime NYC 2026] “Kagurabachi” Anime World Tour – Premiere Screening at Anime NYC

Location: New York
Date & Time: Saturday, August 22, 2026
                      3:30 – 4:15 PM EDT
Venue: Javits Convention Center (Room: Main Stage)
Details:
– Screening of the first 20 minutes of Episode 1 
– Special appearance by anime staff
Panel Session Guests:
Koichi Yasuda (Producer of “Kagurabachi” Anime), Kenta Suzuki (Producer of “Kagurabachi” Anime) *Honorifics omitted
*Event details are subject to change or cancellation without notice.
Official Website: https://animenyc.com/

Copyright Notices

*When featuring the cover art for Kagurabachi Volume 1 or the original illustration by Takeru Hokazono, please ensure the following copyright notice is included.
©Takeru Hokazono/SHUEISHA

*When featuring anime image assets, please ensure the following copyright notice is included.
©Takeru Hokazono/SHUEISHA,Project Kagurabachi

*Copyrights must be indicated when posting or using the images/materials
*Single space is needed between “Takeru” and “Hokazono,” and between “Project” and “Kagurabachi.”
*No space needed after “/(slash)” and “,(comma).”

 

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SOURCE CyberAgent, Inc.

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WinWire Earns Microsoft Frontier Partner Status, Strengthening Its Position as a Leader in Enterprise AI Adoption

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This recognition reflects WinWire’s commitment to delivering secure, scalable AI solutions using Microsoft technology.

HYDERABAD, India, June 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — WinWire (part of NTT DATA), a Microsoft partner specializing in Agentic AI, data engineering, and cloud-native development, today announced it has earned the Frontier Partner badge within the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program. This recognition places WinWire among a select group of partners Microsoft trusts to lead enterprise AI transformation, delivering AI-first solutions across the Microsoft Cloud.

The Frontier Partner badge recognizes partners that demonstrate advanced AI-driven capabilities and meet rigorous badge requirements at the time of recognition. This achievement reflects WinWire’s ability to deliver meaningful customer impact using Microsoft technologies such as Agentic AI, Azure, and Power Platform.

WinWire achieved this recognition by demonstrating deep expertise across Agentic AI and Microsoft Cloud, combined with a strong track record of customer success. The company has consistently delivered measurable business outcomes for enterprise clients in Healthcare & Life Sciences and Software and Digital Platforms, applying advanced capabilities across AI, cloud, data engineering, and modern workplace.

“Achieving the Microsoft Frontier Partner badge is a testament to the exceptional work our team does in helping organizations deploy AI @ Scale to drive business outcomes rather than AI experimentation,” said Ashu Goel, CEO, WinWire. “This badge reflects the strength of our collaboration with Microsoft and our commitment to delivering AI-first, secure, and scalable solutions that drive measurable ROI for our clients.”

“Earning the Frontier Partner badge is a testament to a partner’s deep AI capability and focus on customer success,” said Julie Sanford, Vice President, Partner GTM, Programs & Operations for Global Channel Partner Sales at Microsoft. “We’re proud to work alongside WinWire whose expertise and execution sets up organizations to modernize and thrive.”

To earn the Frontier Partner badge, WinWire met multiple Microsoft Solutions Partner designations and advanced specializations, demonstrating comprehensive expertise across Microsoft technologies.

Solutions Partner Designations:

Modern WorkDigital and App InnovationInfrastructureData and AISecurity

Advanced Specializations:

Microsoft CopilotAI Application and Platform InnovationData Security

This recognition confirms WinWire’s ability to build and deploy AI-first, cloud-native solutions that address the real-world challenges modern organizations face, from accelerating innovation to reinforcing security posture. WinWire’s key capabilities that contributed to this achievement include:

Building and deploying AI agents for business functions using Microsoft Foundry, Copilot Studio, and Microsoft 365 Copilot.Leveraging AI frameworks and accelerators to scale AI from pilot to production – delivering business value across the enterprise.Implementing Responsible AI principles and governance guardrails to ensure secure, compliant, and ethical AI deployments.

At the core of WinWire’s delivery model is its Agentic AI @ Scale framework, which enables the design and deployment of intelligent, autonomous systems embedded directly into enterprise workflows. From deploying Microsoft Copilot and building AI-powered applications to modernizing data estates and strengthening security posture, WinWire helps organizations confidently transition from AI experimentation to enterprise-scale adoption with speed and precision.

About WinWire

WinWire (part of NTT DATA) unleashes the Power of Agentic AI to deliver innovative solutions that help our customers gain competitive advantage. WinWire is at the forefront of enabling enterprises to embark on a transformative Agentic AI journey.

As a globally recognized, multi-award-winning Agentic AI firm, WinWire delivers a spectrum of AI-led digital transformational services that include:

Agentic AI Services: Harness the power of Agentic AI to accelerate the Frontier Firm Journey.Foundational AI Services: Data Estate & BI Modernization for AI-ready data.Operational AI Services: Manage, optimize, and evolve agents and enterprise applications leveraging Agentic AI systems to reduce costs & enhance agility.

Visit us at: www.winwire.com

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Tuya Smart Co-Founder Alex Yang at Summer Davos 2026: The Future of AI Competition Lies in Real-World Applications

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DALIAN, China, June 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC, also known as “Summer Davos”) of the World Economic Forum was held from June 23 to 25 at the Dalian International Conference Center. Alex Yang, Co-Founder, COO, and CFO of Tuya Smart (NYSE: TUYA; HKEX: 2391), was invited to participate in multiple sessions, including “China’s Lobster Fever,” “AI and Future Growth,” and “Owning the Interface: Strategy in the Age of AI Agents,” where he shared his perspectives on the evolving global AI landscape and the future of innovation at scale.

Under the theme of “Innovating at Scale,” the forum convened more than 1,700 leaders and innovators from government, business, and academia across over 90 countries and regions to explore how artificial intelligence, industrial digitalization, and emerging innovation models are reshaping economic growth and technology adoption.

A New Phase of Global AI Innovation

Breakthroughs in foundation models and AI agents are accelerating the rise of artificial intelligence as a new frontier of global technological competition. China’s AI industry and technology enterprises have drawn growing international attention through rapid commercialization and extensive application scenarios. Reflecting this momentum, AI and digital transformation were among the most discussed topics at Summer Davos, with sessions exploring topics such as the boundaries of AI-first enterprises and the implications of increasingly autonomous cross-border AI agents.

Behind China’s “Lobster Fever”

The widespread adoption of AI tools was among the forum’s defining themes. During the session “China’s Lobster Fever,” Yang joined Cathy Li, Head of AI, Data and Metaverse at the World Economic Forum, and S. Alex Yang, Professor of Management Science and Operations at London Business School, to discuss the factors driving China’s rapid AI adoption and innovation.

Yang noted that China’s ability to achieve large-scale AI adoption is the result of several reinforcing advantages.

“First, the country has a vast number of developers who are actively exploring and building AI applications. Second, both individuals and businesses have demonstrated a remarkable openness for exploring and testing new technologies. More fundamentally, the strong aspiration across society for development and progress has become a powerful intrinsic driver of AI innovation.”

“At Tuya, we are dedicated to bringing AI into various real-world industry scenarios,” Yang added. “In the smart home sector, we lower the barriers to building AI-native products through standardized AI modules and an active developer community. In the energy sector, our AI solutions span the entire energy lifecycle—from generation and transmission to storage and consumption. By integrating real-time and dynamic electricity pricing data from more than 800 utility companies across Europe, our platform can intelligently optimize energy loads and help users efficiently reduce overall energy costs.”

Commenting on the commercialization of AI, Yang noted that the industry is shifting “from traditional usage-based pricing models toward an outcome-driven value-based pricing model.” He added, “For enterprises, the winners of the AI era will be those that not only adopt AI technologies early but also build AI-native organizations and talent.”

Advancing Global AI Applications Through an Open Developer Ecosystem

During Summer Davos, Yang also gave interviews to major global media outlets including CNBC, Bloomberg, and CGTN, sharing his views on the commercialization of AI applications, developer ecosystem development, and the large-scale deployment of AI hardware.

He emphasized that in an era of rapid technological change and accelerating industrial transformation, open innovation is essential to sustaining long-term competitiveness. Looking ahead, Tuya will continue to deepen its focus on AI Home, AI Energy, and AI Robot applications, working with global developers and ecosystem partners to advance AI from technological breakthroughs to large-scale deployment.

About Tuya Smart

Tuya Inc. (NYSE: TUYA; HKEX: 2391) is a leading global AI cloud platform service provider dedicated to bringing AI into everyday life. Through its TuyaOpen open-source development framework and universal AI Agent engines, including the AI Agent development platform, Tuya integrates multimodal AI capabilities to lower barriers for AI development, efficiently advancing the realization of AI-driven lifestyles and accelerating AI integration with the physical world. Tuya offers innovative physical AI solutions for smart devices, commercial applications, and industry developers through its cloud computing and spatial intelligence capabilities. It also provides a complete, open, and neutral global AIoT ecosystem.

As of Mar 31, 2026, the Tuya AI Developer Platform had over 1,970,000 registered AI developers from more than 200 countries and regions.

 

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SOURCE Tuya Smart

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KITABOO Converts a Textbook PDF Into a Working Student Simulation in Ten Minutes, With No Human Involvement

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MUMBAI, India, June 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ten minutes is all it takes for KITABOO’s new AI capability to analyze a standard textbook PDF, isolate the exact concept students struggle with most, and engineer an interactive simulation around that specific learning friction point.

This automated pipeline instantly transforms flat text into an active digital environment: a physics chapter becomes a pendulum a student can control; an algebra lesson shifts into a digital balance scale; and a biology unit evolves into an ecosystem where students manipulate variables to observe cause and effect. The final output is delivered via a single, shareable URL that anyone can access instantly—no user accounts or logins required.

Publishers globally are sitting on years of curriculum content in PDF format. The quality of that content has never been the problem. The production cost of converting it into something genuinely interactive has been. A full conversion project has historically required a specialist team, a vendor engagement, and months of time. Most publishers have done the math and deprioritised it.

KITABOO’s new capability removes that constraint. By introducing an end-to-end automated pipeline, the platform allows publishers to bypass traditional development bottlenecks:

The AI instantly reads any uploaded PDF chapter, determines grade appropriateness, and targets core conceptual friction points.Without any human involvement between upload and output, the system builds tailored, subject-specific simulations using the publisher’s own material.The final interactive asset is delivered via a shareable URL, requiring no logins or user accounts for student access.

“K12 publishers have spent years building content that students deserve to actually interact with,” said Darshit Shah, K12 Lead at KITABOO. “What took a team and a production budget now takes ten minutes. That changes who can afford to go digital, and when.”

The timing matters. In the US, emergency federal education funding that kept many publisher production pipelines running ended in 2024. In Europe, governments are mandating digital transitions and accessibility compliance, while publishers are expected to absorb the cost from existing resources. The publishers who find a faster, lower-cost path to interactive content this year will be positioned for the adoption windows ahead. Those who wait are extending a gap that is already widening.

Publishers who want to test this with their own content can do so at: kitaboo.com/turn-textbook-into-interactive-learning

About KITABOO

KITABOO is a digital publishing and learning platform. The platform enables K12 publishers, educational institutions, and content providers to create, distribute, secure, and measure digital content across web and mobile platforms. KITABOO serves publishers in more than 25+ countries, supporting over six million active users across 7,000 school districts.

For more information, visit https://kitaboo.com.

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