Scooby-Doo is going full anime mode, bro.
Tubi TV has licensed Yokoso Scooby-Doo!, a new anime entry in the long-running Scooby-Doo mystery-comedy franchise. The project is being produced by Warner Bros. Animation, with animation handled by OLM — yes, the studio best known to many fans for Pokémon.
That studio choice alone makes this worth watching. Scooby-Doo has crossed over with many styles over the decades, but getting a proper anime production pipeline behind it gives this version a different flavour from the usual Western cartoon treatment.
The series is directed by Itsurō Kawasaki, whose credits include Baban Baban Ban Vampire, Cardfight!! Vanguard 2018, and The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil. Francisco Paredes is attached as co-producer.
Voice-wise, the classics are still here: Frank Welker returns as Scooby-Doo, while Matthew Lillard voices Shaggy. For longtime fans, that keeps the core duo feeling familiar even as the setting and animation style shift into something new.
Scooby and Shaggy, but make it Japan
The story sends Scooby-Doo and Shaggy to Japan for what is supposed to be the ultimate food trip. Very on-brand, honestly. But because this is Scooby-Doo, the makan adventure quickly goes sideways when the pair accidentally release hundreds of mythical monsters across the country.
To clean up the chaos, they team up with Scooby’s uncle Daisuke-Doo, a magical girl named Yume, and a gadget expert called Takumi. So we’re looking at a mix of classic monster-chasing Scooby energy, Japanese folklore, anime character archetypes, and probably a lot of Shaggy screaming while holding snacks.
For Malaysian and SEA anime fans, this is the interesting part: Warner Bros. is not just slapping an anime filter on a familiar IP. With OLM involved and a Japan-set premise built around local myths and food culture, Yokoso Scooby-Doo! could be a proper East-meets-West experiment — the kind that might appeal to kids who know Scooby from Cartoon Network and older fans who grew up with both Saturday morning cartoons and anime.
Wasn’t this called something else before?
Warner Bros. Animation previously announced a similar project at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 2024 under the title Go-Go Mystery Machine. At that time, it was planned for Cartoon Network and had a matching Japan-based premise.
Separately, Warner Bros. also revealed in Brazil in November 2025 that it was producing Scooby-Doo! Gokko, described as a short anime project set to premiere in 2027. That one also focuses on Scooby and Shaggy, though Warner Bros. has not confirmed which studio is animating it.
The Gokko project sounds closer to Warner Bros. Japan’s Tom & Jerry Gokko, a short-form anime adaptation that began in November 2022 and currently releases one short episode per month. That series has Fanworks on animation production, with Studio Nanahoshi credited for animation production assistance.
Should Malaysia fans care?
Yes — with one caveat. This is currently a Tubi licensing announcement, so Malaysian viewers should wait for proper regional streaming details before assuming it will be easy to watch here.
Still, the bigger signal is exciting: more legacy Western franchises are treating anime as a serious format, not just a novelty. If Yokoso Scooby-Doo! lands well, we could see more globally familiar cartoons getting anime versions that actually respect the medium.
And come on — Scooby, Shaggy, Japanese monsters, magical girls, gadgets, and food? That sounds like chaotic weekend viewing material.
Source: Anime News Network