Netflix has revealed the release date for its upcoming Yasuke, an anime based on the African samurai who served under Oda Nobunaga. Netflix also released some first-look photos of the series. The streaming service revealed that it was working on a Yasuke anime back in 2018 and now, nearly three years later, the series has a release date of April 29, 2021. The six-episode series will center around Yasuke, the greatest ronin ever known, in a war-torn feudal Japan filled with mechs, magic, and more, trying to live out his remaining days in peace, according to Netflix. Yasuke's peaceful days don't last, however, as he's forced to take up the sword once more. [caption id="attachment_248400" align="alignnone" width="720"] Netflix's Yasuke, Photo Credit: Netflix[/caption] "[When] a local village becomes the center of social upheaval between warring daimyo, Yasuke must take up his sword and transport a mysterious child who is the target of dark forces and bloodthirsty warlords," Netflix's blog post reads. The series is produced and directed by LeSean Thomas (Cannon Busters) and animated by MAPPA (Attack on Titan: The Final Season, Jujutsu Kaisen). The anime's character designs come by way of director and animator, Takeshi Koike (Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine) and Yasuke will be voiced by LaKeith Stanfield (Sorry to Bother You, Judas and the Black Messiah). Grammy Award-nominated artist, Flying Lotus, is behind the music for the series. [caption id="attachment_248400" align="alignnone" width="720"] Netflix's Yasuke, Photo Credit: Netflix[/caption] "There is a serendipitous nature about this project, how an African-American man goes to Japan to live and work amongst the very best in Japanese anime to create an anime about an African who goes to Japan to live amongst the Japanese elite and become a warrior," Thomas says in Netflix's blog post. "Part of me deep down feels I was meant to create this adventure series with MAPPA, Flying Lotus, LaKeith, and the rest of this talented team." Thomas said he remembers reading the children's book, Kuro-suke by Kurusu Yoshio, and the excitement he felt when he learned Yasuke wasn't just a fictional character, but a real person. "I'm excited for both longtime fans and newcomers to enjoy our reimagined take on this historical figure," he continued. [caption id="attachment_248400" align="alignnone" width="720"] Netflix's Yasuke, Photo Credit: Netflix[/caption] While waiting for Yasuke to release on April 29, check out IGN's thoughts on Yasuke director's previous Netflix project in our Cannon Busters review and then read our list of the top 25 best anime series of all time. Check out this story about the 2021 Crunchyroll Anime Awards winners after that. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Note: Full spoilers follow for the series finale of WandaVision. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Last week's action-packed series finale of WandaVision saw the end of Wanda's takeover of the suburban town of Westview and gave fans a hint at the Scarlet Witch and Vision's future in the MCU. On Sunday, series director Matt Shakman appeared on Kevin Smith's podcast Fatman Beyond to take part in an extended conversation about the show. During their talk, Shakman revealed details on how WandaVision's story changed shape throughout post-production, explaining a sequence planned for Monica Rambeau and her S.W.O.R.D. associates in the finale.

 “We did have a whole sequence where Darcy, Monica [and] Ralph meet up with the kids, and they’re in Agatha’s house, and they think that maybe they should steal the Darkhold from the basement because the kids has seen it down there when they were being held hostage. And they go down to get the book, and as they reach out to get the book, the rabbit hops up in front of the book. And they’re like, 'Oh it’s Señor Scratchy, he’s the best!' And they reach over to scratch him and he hisses and this whole American Werewolf in London transformation happens where rabbit turns into this big demon."

Shakman went on to explain how the sequence ended up being cut because of its unfinished visual effects as well as its somewhat awkward placement in the context of the show's busy finale. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/05/wandavision-episode-9-review"] Shakman's comments provide an explanation for Rambeau's curiously small role in the episode in which her new superpowers barely came into play. Not unlike other television shows, WandaVision underwent constant rewrites and changes throughout production, including having an originally planned 10-episode structure reworked into the final 9-episode run. In Marvel comics, Agatha's son is a warlock named Nicholas Scratch. In one storyline, Scratch became the mayor of a small town whose inhabitants were possessed by demons. Throughout WandaVision's run, fan theories were abound concerning the significance of Agatha's pet rabbit. Though the creature was never explicitly revealed to be Nicholas Scratch, it turns out that those predictions weren't necessarily wrong. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=wandavision-all-the-marvel-and-tv-easter-eggs-in-every-episode&captions=true"] For more on WandaVision, read our lingering questions about what the season finale could entail for the MCU and how the series could set up Wanda's role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will continue to explore the fallout of Avengers: Endgame when the series premieres on Disney+ on March 19. [poilib element="accentDivider"] J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.

Note: Full spoilers follow for the series finale of WandaVision. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Last week's action-packed series finale of WandaVision saw the end of Wanda's takeover of the suburban town of Westview and gave fans a hint at the Scarlet Witch and Vision's future in the MCU. On Sunday, series director Matt Shakman appeared on Kevin Smith's podcast Fatman Beyond to take part in an extended conversation about the show. During their talk, Shakman revealed details on how WandaVision's story changed shape throughout post-production, explaining a sequence planned for Monica Rambeau and her S.W.O.R.D. associates in the finale.

 “We did have a whole sequence where Darcy, Monica [and] Ralph meet up with the kids, and they’re in Agatha’s house, and they think that maybe they should steal the Darkhold from the basement because the kids has seen it down there when they were being held hostage. And they go down to get the book, and as they reach out to get the book, the rabbit hops up in front of the book. And they’re like, 'Oh it’s Señor Scratchy, he’s the best!' And they reach over to scratch him and he hisses and this whole American Werewolf in London transformation happens where rabbit turns into this big demon."

Shakman went on to explain how the sequence ended up being cut because of its unfinished visual effects as well as its somewhat awkward placement in the context of the show's busy finale. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/05/wandavision-episode-9-review"] Shakman's comments provide an explanation for Rambeau's curiously small role in the episode in which her new superpowers barely came into play. Not unlike other television shows, WandaVision underwent constant rewrites and changes throughout production, including having an originally planned 10-episode structure reworked into the final 9-episode run. In Marvel comics, Agatha's son is a warlock named Nicholas Scratch. In one storyline, Scratch became the mayor of a small town whose inhabitants were possessed by demons. Throughout WandaVision's run, fan theories were abound concerning the significance of Agatha's pet rabbit. Though the creature was never explicitly revealed to be Nicholas Scratch, it turns out that those predictions weren't necessarily wrong. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=wandavision-all-the-marvel-and-tv-easter-eggs-in-every-episode&captions=true"] For more on WandaVision, read our lingering questions about what the season finale could entail for the MCU and how the series could set up Wanda's role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will continue to explore the fallout of Avengers: Endgame when the series premieres on Disney+ on March 19. [poilib element="accentDivider"] J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.

Update: In a statement to IGN, HBO Max says, "Zack Snyder’s Justice League was temporarily available on HBO Max, and the error was addressed within minutes.” [poilib element="accentDivider"] Original Story: People settling in for a cozy family showing of cartoon comedy Tom & Jerry on HBO Max got an interesting surprise today -- the movie was four hours long. It was also Zack Snyder's Justice League.

@hbomax I'm trying to watch Tom & Jerry but instead it's playing the Synder Cut

I doubt this is how Tom & Jerry starts off pic.twitter.com/RnkmFBR728 — leirbag (@gbral_) March 8, 2021

 

HOLY SHIT!!!! If you play the Tom and Jerry Movie on HBOMAX ... Zach Synder Justice League plays instead!! @hbomax @DCComics @wbpictures @ComicBook pic.twitter.com/gGV4Z1wTGl

— Kasper or Chucky (@tha_jerk2012) March 8, 2021

 

Fired up ‘Tom & Jerry’ on HBO Max... and the #SnyderCut started to play... pic.twitter.com/myhq7iC0bY

— Ryan Parker (@TheRyanParker) March 8, 2021

Reports of this error began a few hours ago and were widespread across social media, with The Hollywood Reporter confirming it was able to access Justice League briefly. Reports indicate that many users were able to watch an hour or two of the movie before their session was cut off. Since then the film appears to be have been fixed and now only plays Tom & Jerry instead. IGN has reached out to HBO for comment. Zack Snyder's Justice League cut is not expected to release in theatres and on HBO Max until March 18, at which point it will hopefully not actually have been swapped with Tom & Jerry. IGN spoke with Snyder about the film ahead of its release as a part of IGN Fan Fest earlier this month, and also recently hosted a conversation with producer Deborah Snyder and former 343 Industries executive producer and currently studio head of Halo Transmedia and Entertainment Kiki Wolfkill in honor of International Women's Day. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Update: In a statement to IGN, HBO Max says, "Zack Snyder’s Justice League was temporarily available on HBO Max, and the error was addressed within minutes.” [poilib element="accentDivider"] Original Story: People settling in for a cozy family showing of cartoon comedy Tom & Jerry on HBO Max got an interesting surprise today -- the movie was four hours long. It was also Zack Snyder's Justice League.

@hbomax I'm trying to watch Tom & Jerry but instead it's playing the Synder Cut

I doubt this is how Tom & Jerry starts off pic.twitter.com/RnkmFBR728 — leirbag (@gbral_) March 8, 2021

 

HOLY SHIT!!!! If you play the Tom and Jerry Movie on HBOMAX ... Zach Synder Justice League plays instead!! @hbomax @DCComics @wbpictures @ComicBook pic.twitter.com/gGV4Z1wTGl

— Kasper or Chucky (@tha_jerk2012) March 8, 2021

 

Fired up ‘Tom & Jerry’ on HBO Max... and the #SnyderCut started to play... pic.twitter.com/myhq7iC0bY

— Ryan Parker (@TheRyanParker) March 8, 2021

Reports of this error began a few hours ago and were widespread across social media, with The Hollywood Reporter confirming it was able to access Justice League briefly. Reports indicate that many users were able to watch an hour or two of the movie before their session was cut off. Since then the film appears to be have been fixed and now only plays Tom & Jerry instead. IGN has reached out to HBO for comment. Zack Snyder's Justice League cut is not expected to release in theatres and on HBO Max until March 18, at which point it will hopefully not actually have been swapped with Tom & Jerry. IGN spoke with Snyder about the film ahead of its release as a part of IGN Fan Fest earlier this month, and also recently hosted a conversation with producer Deborah Snyder and former 343 Industries executive producer and currently studio head of Halo Transmedia and Entertainment Kiki Wolfkill in honor of International Women's Day. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

GameStop appears to be gearing up for a major strategy shift, seemingly away from its existing brick-and-mortar store model and into embracing e-commerce. Today, the company announced the formation of a new strategic planning committee "to identify initiatives that can further accelerate the Company’s transformation." The members on the committee are Alan Attal, Kurt Wolf, and committee chairperson Ryan Cohen. What does this mean? Specifically, the committee is responsible for changing GameStop into a technology business, something that Cohen, the former CEO of Chewy, is known for being good at. It's one of the reasons his appointment to the company's board of directors last year helped trigger a massive short squeeze on company stock. He's been asking for this flavor of change from GameStop since his appointment last year, including penning a letter to the board of directors in November saying the company must "promptly pivot" from a focus on physical stores to "a technology-driven vision." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/28/what-is-going-on-with-gamestop-stock-ign-now"] But Cohen's not the only interesting figure on this committee. Wolf was one of the key figures in an executive board coup last year that saw a group of activist shareholders effectively take control of the board after a vicious, two-year campaign against existing leadership. A move to e-commerce was one of the key platforms of Wolf's group of shareholders, as well as an overhaul of executive compensation -- which, incidentally, Wolf is also now in charge of thanks to this same committee. Other actions already taken by this committee have included appointing a new chief technology officer in Amazon Web Services veteran Matt Francis, and forming a plan to find a new chief financial officer after Jim Bell resigned last month. Incidentally, Bloomberg has reported that Cohen himself may be in line for the role. GameStop stock has surged again today in light of the news, going from an opening of $154.89 to a high today of $210.87 per share, currently sitting at $194.50. Its last surge was in late February a day after Bell's departure, and has held steady about $100 per share ever since. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

GameStop appears to be gearing up for a major strategy shift, seemingly away from its existing brick-and-mortar store model and into embracing e-commerce. Today, the company announced the formation of a new strategic planning committee "to identify initiatives that can further accelerate the Company’s transformation." The members on the committee are Alan Attal, Kurt Wolf, and committee chairperson Ryan Cohen. What does this mean? Specifically, the committee is responsible for changing GameStop into a technology business, something that Cohen, the former CEO of Chewy, is known for being good at. It's one of the reasons his appointment to the company's board of directors last year helped trigger a massive short squeeze on company stock. He's been asking for this flavor of change from GameStop since his appointment last year, including penning a letter to the board of directors in November saying the company must "promptly pivot" from a focus on physical stores to "a technology-driven vision." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/28/what-is-going-on-with-gamestop-stock-ign-now"] But Cohen's not the only interesting figure on this committee. Wolf was one of the key figures in an executive board coup last year that saw a group of activist shareholders effectively take control of the board after a vicious, two-year campaign against existing leadership. A move to e-commerce was one of the key platforms of Wolf's group of shareholders, as well as an overhaul of executive compensation -- which, incidentally, Wolf is also now in charge of thanks to this same committee. Other actions already taken by this committee have included appointing a new chief technology officer in Amazon Web Services veteran Matt Francis, and forming a plan to find a new chief financial officer after Jim Bell resigned last month. Incidentally, Bloomberg has reported that Cohen himself may be in line for the role. GameStop stock has surged again today in light of the news, going from an opening of $154.89 to a high today of $210.87 per share, currently sitting at $194.50. Its last surge was in late February a day after Bell's departure, and has held steady about $100 per share ever since. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

DC's Wonder Woman: Earth One saga is nearly complete, and IGN has an exclusive preview of the third and final graphic novel in the series. Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 3 reunites writer Grant Morrison and artist Yanick Paquette for one last Wonder Woman epic. In this climactic chapter, Queen Diana is forced to lead the charge in defense of her homeland as Max Lord's army of robots invade Themiscyra. Can Diana remain a force for love and peace when she's forced to become the warrior her mother designed her to be? Get a taste of what's coming and see Diana interacting with Artemis by checking out the slideshow gallery below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=wonder-woman-earth-one-vol-3-exclusive-preview&captions=true"] For those not familiar with the Earth One line of graphic novels, they're simialr to Marvel's Ultimate Universe imprint in that they reimagine and modernize familiar heroes for a 21st Century audience, with some heroes changing more drastically than others. The Wonder Woman books offer a fairly unusual take on Diana and her world, as they draw heavy inspiration from the original Golden Age Wonder Woman comics and the themes of bondage and subservience that were so prevalent in the work of creator William Moulton Marston. The first volume even drew controversy for its depiction of Diana being the daughter of Hercules, a choice even Morrison admitted he "struggled" with. "In this particular story I wanted that tension," Morrison told IGN in 2016. "I wanted that push and pull, and I wanted Diana to be a bit more impure in the sense that, yeah, there is a little bit of masculinity that has been put into her. Originally, Hippolyta does it just for the reasons that Hercules' DNA will then go on to destroy women, and there would be no more sons, as Hippolyta said. So it's actually kind of an act of revenge. Diana is used as revenge on the battlefield, which to me seemed much more this sort of thing that people could relate to. She's a character who's so pure and so perfect that it seemed like we needed that little bit of dark in the character to give her a chance to grow and to think about things and change." Vol. 2 further shook up the Wonder Woman mythology by depicting long-time DC villain Doctor Psycho as a supervillain pickup artist and a critique of toxic masculinity. "Part of it was my revenge on having seen [this level of manipulation] actually done to someone. You can see the narcissist type, the sociopath type and how easy it is for them get to people -- people you wouldn't even imagine could be that manipulated by anything," Morrison told IGN in 2018. "It's a very real problem for young people in the world. There are people out there who are quite willing to use these techniques so I kind of wanted to draw attention to it, but, you know, on the Wonder Woman scale where the guy is a supervillain. I wanted to put these paragon of femininity up against that threat and see how she deals with it -- because even paragons of intelligence and grace I've watched having real trouble with people like this. Here are the techniques. If you see anyone using these techniques against you, the warnings should go off." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/15/wonder-woman-1984-review"] You can check out IGN's review of Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1 and Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 2. DC is also finally releasing the third volume of Batman: Earth One in 2021, which will introduce a very different version of Two-Face and shed more light on this Bruce Wayne's ties to the Arkham family. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

DC's Wonder Woman: Earth One saga is nearly complete, and IGN has an exclusive preview of the third and final graphic novel in the series. Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 3 reunites writer Grant Morrison and artist Yanick Paquette for one last Wonder Woman epic. In this climactic chapter, Queen Diana is forced to lead the charge in defense of her homeland as Max Lord's army of robots invade Themiscyra. Can Diana remain a force for love and peace when she's forced to become the warrior her mother designed her to be? Get a taste of what's coming and see Diana interacting with Artemis by checking out the slideshow gallery below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=wonder-woman-earth-one-vol-3-exclusive-preview&captions=true"] For those not familiar with the Earth One line of graphic novels, they're simialr to Marvel's Ultimate Universe imprint in that they reimagine and modernize familiar heroes for a 21st Century audience, with some heroes changing more drastically than others. The Wonder Woman books offer a fairly unusual take on Diana and her world, as they draw heavy inspiration from the original Golden Age Wonder Woman comics and the themes of bondage and subservience that were so prevalent in the work of creator William Moulton Marston. The first volume even drew controversy for its depiction of Diana being the daughter of Hercules, a choice even Morrison admitted he "struggled" with. "In this particular story I wanted that tension," Morrison told IGN in 2016. "I wanted that push and pull, and I wanted Diana to be a bit more impure in the sense that, yeah, there is a little bit of masculinity that has been put into her. Originally, Hippolyta does it just for the reasons that Hercules' DNA will then go on to destroy women, and there would be no more sons, as Hippolyta said. So it's actually kind of an act of revenge. Diana is used as revenge on the battlefield, which to me seemed much more this sort of thing that people could relate to. She's a character who's so pure and so perfect that it seemed like we needed that little bit of dark in the character to give her a chance to grow and to think about things and change." Vol. 2 further shook up the Wonder Woman mythology by depicting long-time DC villain Doctor Psycho as a supervillain pickup artist and a critique of toxic masculinity. "Part of it was my revenge on having seen [this level of manipulation] actually done to someone. You can see the narcissist type, the sociopath type and how easy it is for them get to people -- people you wouldn't even imagine could be that manipulated by anything," Morrison told IGN in 2018. "It's a very real problem for young people in the world. There are people out there who are quite willing to use these techniques so I kind of wanted to draw attention to it, but, you know, on the Wonder Woman scale where the guy is a supervillain. I wanted to put these paragon of femininity up against that threat and see how she deals with it -- because even paragons of intelligence and grace I've watched having real trouble with people like this. Here are the techniques. If you see anyone using these techniques against you, the warnings should go off." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/15/wonder-woman-1984-review"] You can check out IGN's review of Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1 and Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 2. DC is also finally releasing the third volume of Batman: Earth One in 2021, which will introduce a very different version of Two-Face and shed more light on this Bruce Wayne's ties to the Arkham family. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

V1 Interactive, the development studio behind RTS-inspired first-person shooter Disintegration, is closing its doors today. In an announcement to Twitter today, the studio thanked its staff for their work over the last five years, with CEO and founder Marcus Lehto adding in a separate tweet that this news was not coming as a shock to the studio's employees. "We’ve been transparent with them about the state of things for months and are making this decision now so they still have ample time to search for new jobs while being supported by our studio," he said. As of the middle of last year, the studio had around 30 employees. V1 Interactive was founded by Lehto, the co-creator of the Halo franchise, with Disintegration as its only published title. The game was first envisioned as a real-time strategy title, but was gradually shaped into an FPS ahead of its official announcement in July of 2019. It launched in June of last year, but our review of the game said that its simple shooting and squad management made its campaign "fall pretty flat." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/10/disintegration-single-player-review"] Support for multiplayer was shuttered three months after release, and publisher Take-Two (via its Private Division label) CEO Strauss Zelnick called Disintegration's sales "a bit disappointing." This is the second Private Division studio to go under in recent years, with development of Kerbal Space Program 2 being moved to a new, internal studio from independent external studio Star Theory in February of 2020, along with half of Star Theory's employees. Those remaining at Star Theory were eventually forced to shutter the studio due to an inability to secure new publishing contracts. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.