Bananya and Crunchyroll are celebrating the franchise's 10th anniversary by releasing a new mobile cat-collecting game this summer called Bananya Buddies and an anime special that will premiere at Anime Expo on July 4 before streaming on Crunchyroll on July 9.
Bananya Buddies is being published by Crunchyroll and TMS and will arrive exclusively on Crunchyroll Game Vault. In fact, this will be the first original game to appear on Crunchyroll Game Vault, and it comes from independent studio The MIX.
This game is designed to "capture all the magic of the series in a cute, cozy package where fans can play mini-games, earn rewards, and deck out the ultimate Bananya hangout pad." The action takes place on Bananya Planet, and the goal will be to go on shopping sprees, boost your Bananyas' Buddy Points to get more rewards, reach Best Buddies status with the kitties to earn a sleepover, get your status to Best Buddies Forever status for a special surprise, and much more.
Bananya Buddies will join nearly 100 other titles in the Crunchy Game Vault, and all of the games will be available to Crunchyroll members at the Mega and Ultimate Fan tiers. By being a member, players will also get to stream the original Bananya series, Bananya and the Curious Bunch, Bananya Around the World, and much more.
If you're interested, you can pre-register on Google Play right now and on iOS in the near future.
As for the Bananya 10th Anniversary Anime Special, this will debut during Anime Expo on July 4, which just so happens to be exactly 10 years since the release of the first episode on July 4, 2016. As we also previously mentioned, the special will come to Crunchyroll on July 9.
"When I open my eyes, a bizarre world spreads before me. I spot strange kitties inside bananas… Bananyas, if you will," the official description reads. "Hold on a moment, what is going on? Did I turn into a Bananya myself?! Through the forest, over the mountain, and across the land, we set out on a journey with the Bananyas in search of missing treasures."
Alongside a brand-new theme song ('Nyanderful nyanderland (character voice : BANANYA / Yuki Kaji) by TAMAchan) to celebrate this big milestone, the special will also feature an all-star voice cast that includes SPY x Family's Atsumi Tanezaki as Stray Banana, Zundamon's Yuina Ito as Little Bananya, and Naruto's Toshiyuki Morikawa as Tall Bananya.
There will be plenty of other ways to celebrate Bananya as it turns 10, and more release schedules, event announcements, and details on merch, celebratory projects, and more will be revealed in the future.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.
