Ryan Epps-Contributor

Ryan Epps

March, 2026
Anime
  • 153
    articles
  • 28
    News
  • 108
    Features
  • 14
    Lists
  • 3
    Reviews

About Ryan Epps

Ryan Epps is a contributing writer for Polygon. His writing spans both the entertainment and tech verticals, with bylines covering everything from Dark Souls to TVs at sites like Tom’s Guide, IGN, Digital Trends, TheGamer, Tech Times, and more.

What's your origin story?

I was writing short stories in little notebooks since I was 5 years old. I haven't stopped writing since. 

What's a recent obsession?

Saga of Tanya the Evil, Nier Replicant and Neir Automata, Sim racng, Daicon Opening Animations, Hideaki Anno's Love & Pop and Ritual

Latest

penguinhighway
The anime that made suburbia feel like science fiction is free to stream on YouTube

Hiroyasu Ishida's feature debut remains one of anime's smartest celebrations of curiosity and imagination

Sicario Josh Brolin 2
Taylor Sheridan's breakthrough crime thriller is still his sharpest piece of writing

A decade later, few thrillers balance nerve-shredding suspense and moral ambiguity this well

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The Last Blossom
A dying yakuza confronts the sins of his past in The Last Blossom anime trailer

Studio CLAP's latest feature arrives in theaters for two nights only this August

Tales from Earthsea 4
Studio Ghibli's most misunderstood fantasy returns to theaters after 20 years

Goro Miyazaki's debut feature remains the boldest and most hotly debated creative gambles in the studio's history

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Marvel’s Phase 7 movie slate is hiding in plain sight after SDCC

After years of multiverse setup, Marvel Studios is finally refocusing on its most important worlds

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The Ninth Jedi Star Wars Visions presents
How The Ninth Jedi brings Star Wars back to basics by reinventing everything

"We were given the freedom to create something new," director Kenji Kamiyama tells Polygon

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valley of the wind wide shot
42 years ago, Hayao Miyazaki gave The Odyssey’s overlooked princess the epic adventure she deserves

The best companion piece to Christopher Nolan's new epic isn't another sword-and-sandals adventure

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flcl wide shot copy
Before False Memory arrives, binge the six-episode anime that changed a generation

The coming-of-age story that never gets old

John Wick walks in the rain in a still from John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum
John Wick is secretly one of the best fantasy franchises of the last decade

The secret fantasy lurking beneath the bullets

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Megumi activates his domain expansion inside a gymnasium in Jujutsu Kaisen
The biggest anime event of 2026 is finally streaming on Netflix

Let The Culling Game begin

Coldsnap 2006 Magic The Gathering
Magic’s most fascinating failure was secretly ahead of its time

What began as a marketing gimmick quickly became something far more interesting

The Great Wall 4
Matt Damon's most underrated epic adventure movie is free to stream on Tubi

10 years later, this forgotten blockbuster is worth a second chance

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A Porsche driving underneath the cherry blossom trees in Forza Horizon 6.
Forza Horizon 6 is 100 times better with a racing seat

My thumbs are officially unemployed

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Still from Chainsmoker Cat anime of Yaniko reaching out for a cigarette from Yaku-Neko.
Chainsmoker Cat understands the impossible math of addiction

Yaniko’s journey is anything but pretty, and that grime is exactly what makes her story so compelling

Gandalft Life of the Party card from Magic The Gather The Hobbit
Magic’s 35 new Hobbit cards bring Thorin’s legendary company together

Thorin, Bard, and the heroes of The Hobbit lead the first wave of legendary reveals

Dirge of Cerberus custcene
Twenty years later, the weirdest FF7 game is still one of Square Enix’s boldest experiments

Sometimes the weirdest ideas, like an action shooter starring Vincent Valentine, can become the most memorable

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A white-haired, red-eyed Luffy in Gear 5 mode in One Piece.
One Piece card scalpers cause rare Weekly Shonen Jump shortage, leaving manga fans empty-handed

An exclusive One Piece promo reportedly sent resellers racing to bookstores across Japan

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Still from One Piece of Luffy looking angry.
Sony’s Crunchyroll store changes feel like subscription culture gone too far

After announcing the end of physical Playstation media, the corp builds yet another wall in the garden

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Time travel, catharsis and Mamoru Hosoda’s animated worlds
20 years later, anime's greatest coming-of-age story still feels timeless

The secret to Mamoru Hosoda’s anime has always been understanding what we’re afraid to lose

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sam neill event horizon
Sam Neill's greatest sci-fi movie is still the best cosmic horror ever put to screen

The most terrifying thing about Event Horizon is watching a man understand the impossible

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