I heard the use of 新しい回 to say "the last episode released" : do I understand it right ? is it a common expression ?
I have some doubt because according to me the counter for episode is 話。
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Sign up to join this communityYes this is a valid expression. This 回 is a simple noun that means "episode (of a TV program)", "inning (of baseball)", "round (of an experiment, competition, etc.)", "show (of a movie/play/etc played at a theater on a day)" and such. It's typically modified by 最初の, 次の, 前の, 新しい and 最後の. 最終回 is a common phrase that means "the final episode (of a TV series)".
This 回 is not a counter because it's following 新しい, which is obviously not a number.