Last Update: 1/10/26 at 4:12 p.m. EST

Welcome to my seasonal Guide! The debut schedule can be found here.

I expect to cover every full-episode series that will be debuting this season and is available in streaming form, including many of the sequels/returning series. The ones I will NOT be covering (because I’m not caught up on the franchise) are the new seasons of MF Ghost, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Samurai Troopers, Hell Teacher, Anyway I’m Falling in Love With You, Jujutsu Kaisen, Fire Force, Trigun, Medalist, and ‘Tis Time For “Torture,” Princess. In addition to those Oshi no Ko will not be in the preview guide because it will go straight to episode reviews when it debuts. (I am considering doing the same with Frieren as well, since I’ve always regretted not episode-reviewing its first season.)

As always, the entries are posted below in newest to oldest order and multiple updates per day should be expected on busier debut days.

Note: Because Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity to an Android is a 4½ minute short, it will not get a separate review here.

Dead Account

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Soji Enishiro, aka Aoringo, is an Internet flamebaiter of the worst kind, doing anything wild that will earn him money. But there is a motive behind his greed: he’s saving up to pay for a surgery for his ill sister. That all changes when his sister dies before she can get that surgery. He can’t accept that, and so bites hard when he starts getting texts from her again. The truth comes out when he’s attacked by a sledgehammer-wielding young man one night, a person who seems to be aiming for his phone rather than him. It turns out that who Soji has been texting with is actually a digital ghost, and once they manifest they can only be fought with digitized spiritual powers. Soji seems to have the spiritual energy necessary to pull that off even without training, so he’s about to be forcibly recruited to Miden Academy, which apparently trains individuals to deal with these cybernetic ghosts.

Frankly, a series which confronts ghosts which are entirely online would be a more interesting direction to go with this concept, but that wouldn’t leave any opportunity for action scenes, would it? And this is definitely a standard-looking shonen supernatural actioner, just with an updated twist on the nature of the supernatural entities and the powers used to combat them. That twist is enough to give this one a fresher feel, though; the concept of digitized spiritual powers being needed to fight off digitized ghosts is an intriguing one. That and a solid visual, technical, and musical effort are why I can justify giving this one a mild recommendation for now, even if the series does seem to be making excuses for a flamebaiter. Besides, who that’s been online for a long time hasn’t considered the inherent creepiness of an account created by a now-dead person still lingering?

A Misanthrope Teachers a Class for Demi-Humans

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

For as-yet-unspecified reasons, Rei Hitoma has left the teacher profession and become a misanthrope. After two years, he decides to try out a job posting for a remote mountain school, one that he soon learns is hidden behind illusions which can only be pierced by wearing a special ring. It turns out that his new school is dedicated to preparing demi-human girls to become human. He is assigned to an advanced class with four students: a rabbit girl, a mermaid girl, a bird girl, and a werewolf girl, each of which has her own reasons for wanting to become human. The OP suggests that a couple more will eventually join, too.

While I don’t necessarily want an infodump here, the biggest problem is the first episode leaves too many things too vague. Why Rei is a misanthrope is a foundational element here, but the reason is not even hinted at; my guess is that has to do with a false accusation in a classroom (speaking as a teacher, that’s the most obvious thing that would come to mind to explain this), but that supposition isn’t based on anything in the episode. How “becoming human” actually happens also desperately needs some elaboration. The writing also seems only half-hearted about playing up the animal characteristics of each girl, instead mostly opting for stock personality archetypes: you have the cheery too-talkative girl, the Wild Child, Low Self-Esteem Girl, and Cynical Girl, with the only slight twist being that the latter is the bunny girl. Each of their reasons for wanting become human is a little interesting, but that’s it, and neither their interactions with Rei nor the artistry offers much spark. A concept somewhat like this has been done before, and done much better on all fronts, by Interviews with Monster Girls, and I recommend watching that instead if you want to try a school-based demi-human girls series.

Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling

Streams: HIDIVE on Saturdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

The unnamed protagonist doesn’t remember who he was before, but he’s pretty sure he was a human. Now he’s a Dragon Egg in a world which has RPG-like stat screens and a Divine Voice who speaks to him. He has to get creative to muddle his way though survival until he can evolve (er, hatch) into a Baby Dragon. But such creatures are considered delicacies and relatively low on the food chain, so he then needs to level up fast to survive. Eventually he gets his first encounter with humans, which becomes dangerous at first but may also win him his first ally if he can just survive the encounter.

In many respects this light novel adaptation – which I will forever remember as “Pokemon: The Isekai” – is a completely standard “reborn as a monster” tale, down to the status screens, game-like mechanics, and need to muddle through being fragile at first. However, this one might be watchable because it captures at least some of the spirit that made That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and So I’m a Spider, So What? successful. The Divine Voice shows at least a bit of character in some of its curious points of emphasis and granted titles, the protagonist’s antics while still in egg form are rather entertaining, and there’s at least a bit of mystery about who or what seems to be guiding the protagonist beyond the Divine Voice. The protagonist also encounters a likely future human companion by the end of the episode, too, and unlike with Beheneko, she’s not portrayed as a sexpot. A jaunty and fun musical score helps a lot in setting the tone and the visuals aren’t bad, so I’m cautiously optimistic about this one even though giving it a middling grade.

Dark Moon:The Blood Altar

Streams: Crunchyroll on Fridays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

The city of Riverfield holds the prestigious Decelis Academy, a rare institution which specializes in night classes. It also has a strict screening process to prevent admission of vampires, which is why new student Sooha is so keen on joining it. Unbeknownst to her, though, a group of seven vampire hotties are already in attendance, and each of these pretty boys finds themselves almost irresistibly drawn to Sooha, even before they known that she also has a superhuman ability. Only one even tries to remain aloof, but evenhe can’t entirely resist her unconscious allure.

This one adapts a Korean webtoon made in conjunction with a kpop boy band, and it is every bit the stereotypical vampire reverse harem tale, down even to the utterly formulaic distribution of character designs and (for the most part) personality types for the Sooha’s corps of would-be love interests. The one minor difference here is that Sooha isn’t exactly helpless herself; she’s strong enough to lift a twin bed (frame and all) over her head without any apparent effort, which suggests that she could probably defend herself if she needed to; indeed, the Next Episode preview shows her doing exactly that when the interlopers who appear in the epilogue sneak onto campus. Not sure if that’s enough of a draw to attract in anyone who isn’t normally a fan of reverse harems and/or bishonen teen vampires, though. Curiously, this one is simuldubbed, and even more curiously, the whole cast is using British-like accents. (Not sure why since the setting doesn’t seem specifically British.) Might watch one more episode just to see if it shows any spark of originality beyond making Sooha not helpless, but I don’t have high hopes for this one.

Hell Mode

Streams: HIDIVE on Fridays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

An unnamed 35-year-old gamer is so jaded with games that are too short or easy that when he comes across a new game advertising a Hell Mode difficulty level, he bits hard. He even chooses the experimental Summoner class since it’s supposed to be the most difficult. Naturally, this is all a mechanism to summon him into a fantasy world where he’s reborn as Allen, the baby son of a serf. He eventually learns that Summoner is a brand-new class created by the local god, and Allen is going to be an alpha tester for it. That’s fine with him, and over the next couple of years Allen learn the basics of his summoning class.

The overarching problem with this light novel adaptation is that, at least in the content covered by the first episode, it doesn’t live up to its auspicious name – not even close. Allen may be the child of serfs, but there’s nothing awful about his life. He’s got loving parents, a potential childhood friend, and (by the end of the episode) even a baby brother, and he’s gradually coming along with his summons, too. Nothing about his circumstances seems especially rough, and even the art style and color scheme are more reminiscent of mindless, lighter-hearted isekai tales. The OP shown at the end suggests that this series will never get particularly dark, either. The theme here seems to be that Allen having a family here makes his life better, which is fine but not what the series advertises itself as being. Hence this one is more boring and misleading than outright bad.

Champignon Witch

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

Luna is known as he Champignon Witch (a “champignon” is a common type of edible mushroom) because everywhere she walks and everything she touches sprouts poisonous mushrooms. She cannot have regular contact with people because her touch is poisonous to most humans, but she is surrounded by many sentient animals in her forest home and can experience the world through books she buys with the money she gets for selling medicines, so she’s not lonely – or at least she doesn’t realize she is until she encounters Henri, a handsome young man who takes an interest in Luna after realizing that she inadvertently summoned his soul for a midnight dance by drawing a picture of him. Though this allows him to safely have contact with her, it’s also dangerous, both for his health and because it might attract the wrong kind of attention. (Luna is a “black witch” because she’s a magic-user who isn’t aligned with the “white witches” who serve the kingdom, and such individuals are persecuted.)

This one is based on a manga by the creator of Gakuen Alice, and the reason why it has a double-episode debut is pretty clear by the end: these two episodes taken together are essentially the story’s prologue. In a fairy-tale fashion, they explain who Luna is and how her heart is opened enough by her bittersweet experience with Henri to be able to deal with the actual main male character, who is revealed at the end of episode 2 to have been the person narrating these two episodes. The very old-school sensibility about magic and what Luna can do (her emotions show via flowers which sprout on he witch’s hat, for instance) is charming and even a bit cute at times, but this is counterbalanced a bit by the truth behind the mushrooms she generates and the potential for persecution lingering in the background, waiting for her to get careless; this is put to voice by “crow boy,” a familiar for a “black” wizard who seems to oversee her.. The artistic style, which I think is meant to evoke fairy tale picture books, sets it apart from other titles this season as much as its content does, and it suits the nature of the story well. Not sure if this will make my seasonal viewing list since it falls on an already-packed Wednesday, but it’s at least earned a second look over the next couple of weeks.

Chained Soldier s2

Streams: HIDIVE on Thursdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

The 7th Squad of the Mato Defense Force is back in action, this time rescuing two young girls caught up in a Mato Mishap. After Yuki gets his reward and Tenka makes a delivery to Aoba, it’s time for the commanders to summon for a meeting about the Gods, one headed by Supreme Commander Ren Yamashiro. And as she shows when a Shuuki attack happens during the meeting, there’s a good reason why she’s the Supreme Commander and why Kyouka will have her hands full if she wants to replace her and reform the MDF.

This series picks up not long after the first season left off with no recap, so a bit of review of the last couple of episodes of the previous season is recommended. The main point of the episode is really just to introduce Ren, as there’s no significant plot development her beyond revealing that there could be human factions involved with interests that don’t align with the MDF. This series being what it is, it naturally also has its opportunity for sexy fan service provided by Kyoka, though not any actual nudity this time. Despite a director change, the look and visual style remains unchanged, and that’s for the best; the first season may have been a trashy action show, but it was always a good-looking one. Overall, this episode offers what the first season did, so established fans should have no complaints.

The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

In Shizuka Yakou’s modern world, nonhuman races coexist and freely interact with humans, so there’s nothing strange about her working as an administrative assistant to Akira, a detective who’s an invisible gentleman. She’s not normal for humans because she’s blind, but that barely hinders her job at all and Akira seems to appreciate that she can always sense when he’s around, even if he goes full invisible. (Normally just his clothes show, but he can apparently mask those, too, when he wants.) In fact, he seems inclined to want to date her, which flusters Shizuka to no end. But that doesn’t mean she objects. Akira is, after all, always a gentleman around her, and him being invisible is hardly a barrier for her.

If you’re looking for a light, adorable series focused on adults to relax to, you could do a whole lot worse than this darling manga adaptation. It’s a delight to watch how Shizuka (the main viewpoint character) reacts to Akira as they go through the early stages of courtship. The level of detail work on how a blind person does things, and how simple accommodations are made for her (like telling her what clock position on her plate a food sample is) is also quite interesting, since it all seems natural rather than pitying. The series also gets kudos for only playing her disability for humor in the lightest of fashions. (She accidentally walks into a large coworker and makes a comment about running into a wall.) Most of the humor comes from the cases Akira winds up working, which are just normal detective jobs which take weird twists when aliens (for instance) are involved. It’s also blessed with excellent pacing for a series of its type. The series is looking like a keeper and is making Wednesday look like the busy day of the week this season.

The Holy Grail of Eris

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

rating: 3.5 (of 5)

16-year-old Constance’s family, the Grails, had “sincerity” as part of their family motto, but that wasn’t enough to prevent crushing debt. Though Constance had dreamed of marrying for love, she agreed to an arranged marriage to help settle the debt, and at least the young man was nice and handsome. But she unknowingly ran afoul of another young woman who had her sights set on her fiancé and found herself set up for a reputation-killing accusation of theft at the ball. Desperate for a way out of the situation, Constance agreed to help from a mysterious woman who possessed her and quickly turned the whole situation on its head. The next morning Constance learns that the woman is actually the ghost of Scarlet Castiel, a notorious villainess whose execution Constance accidentally had a front-row seat for 10 years earlier. And Scarlet has a price for her help: assistance in getting revenge on the prince and scheming crown princess whom she claims wronged her.

Based partly on the reputation of its source light novels, this was one of the most highly-anticipated series of the season. While its debut isn’t among the season’s best, it’s still good enough to mostly justify its hype. The basic premise is an intriguing spin on the standard villainess formula, and without inserting any time shifts or isekai elements into it, too. Nearly as interesting, though, is what’s implied here. There are definite signs of a cruel underbelly to the high society in this setting, and that raises suspicion that, despite her haughty attitude, Scarlet might have legitimately been wronged and set up to take a fatal fall. But given how masterfully she manipulated the situation when possessing Constance, how did someone like her get so thoroughly outmaneuvered in life? And even with Scarlet’s guidance, can a good-natured person like Constance weather the trials necessary to compete against a force like that? That’s a pretty meaty plot thread, so even if the Constance/Scarlet relationship doesn’t go much of anywhere (too early to tell at this point), the plot along could carry this one. Visuals are decent but not spectacular and certainly not problematic enough to prevent this one from being a keeper.

Roll Over and Die

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Flum Apricot was chosen by the god Origin to leave her village to be part of the Hero’s party, even though she was less than unremarkable: her stats are all stubbornly stuck at 0 and her god-given affinity, Reversal, seems useless. Though she served the party in a support role, Jean (the party’s sage) became disgusted with her inability to fight (and perhaps also saw her friendship with the Hero, Cyrill, as an obstruction to his own romantic designs on Cyrill) and so arranged for Flum to be sold off as a slave while telling the rest of the party that Flum had just gone home. But just as she was about to be killed by ghouls for being useless even to the slaver, Flum comes into contact with a cursed sword, which reveals how her affinity actually works: she reverses any effects applied to her, so strong debuffs become powerful buffs and a curse which melts flesh instead heals her. With an Epic-level cursed sword in hand, she flees with the bandaged slave girl Milkit and seeks out to strike out on her own, for she will not just roll over and die.

This “banished from the hero’s party” iteration is based on a light novel series whose official English translation I’m current on, so I am a bit biased here. Even so, I can’t rate this episode too highly because I find some of its organizational, editing, and pacing choices to be questionable. (Honestly, I expected the first episode to end with Flum and Milkit’s breakout from the slaver.) So this one is a relatively rare case of being carried more by its core concepts than its details. The nature of Flum’s affinity is intriguing (and will be explored in much greater detail in future episodes) and Milkit’s nature is also a bit of a departure from the norm, but most importantly, the two look good together; this is a yuri title, after all. The novels can get quite graphic, and signs that the anime production will hold true to that are already present here. (If you find the first episode’s graphic content to be pushing your limit, be forewarned that it will get worse.) This one may be destined for episode reviews, so there’s no question that I will be following it, but even with its iffy editing choices it’s still the more interesting of the two “banished” series this season.

SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 5 (of 5)

Yuki awakens to find herself in a maid outfit in a luxurious bedroom. Investigating the mansion she’s in, she finds five other young ladies, all also wearing maid uniforms, assembled there as well. All of them are there to escape the mansion by navigating various puzzles and avoiding various traps, for they are in a death game, most by some degree of choice. Yuki is the veteran of the lot, having navigated such games a whopping 27 times before. She knows that not everyone else has to die for some to escape, and more than half usually do survive. She will certainly do her best to maximize the number of survivors. But some may get careless and others may have to be sacrificed along the way. And grieving can wait until the game is over.

No series this season which is getting an extra-length debut (in this case 47 minutes) warrants it more. It isn’t just a lack of convenient stopping point in the middle; cutting this into two parts would have disrupted the beautifully oppressive tone the episode sets. The sense of dread builds on a low burn from the moment the first cast member dies an innocuous death, raising to a searing heat when another character meets a grisly fate in what is easily one of the most disturbing scenes in recent seasons despite there being nothing graphic about what’s shown; what’s implied is plenty enough, and the built-in work-around for the game to prevent showing gore in some ways makes it worse. Later sacrifices which have to be more deliberately made are both stunning and chilling. Director Sota Ueno (Days With My Stepsister) uses a very distinctive visual style on both backgrounds and character designs which only heightens the sense of unease and artificiality of the situation, and kudos to Junichi Matsumoto (The Ancient Magus’ Bride) for an understated but nonetheless unnerving musical score. This one is absolutely not for everyone; I wouldn’t blame anyone for being hard-turned-off by it. But this is an incredible opening execution for the concept, and I’m fascinated to see where the series goes next.

A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

One moment Lizel, the young genius Chancellor of his kingdom, was in a meeting with subordinates and the next he finds himself on a street in a similar but unfamiliar city. Key differences – the presence of magic compared to sorcery, the existence of adventurers – convince him he’s not in his home world, but he knows nothing about this new place, so he decides to sell his sword for money and hire the most trustworthy figure he comes across. That happens to be Gil, a top-tier adventurer nicknamed Blade. With Blade’s help, Gil starts to learn about this world. He is concerned about how he’s going to get back home, but until he’s summoned back or finds another way back, he intends to treat this like a vacation.

BL-leaning isekai used to be rare, but this is now the second one to debut in as many days. (Granted, this one isn’t as overtly BL as Isekai Office Worker, but the signs are still there.) This one takes an entirely different but equally rare angle, in that the world-hopping protagonist actually came from a different fantasy world rather than Japan. That and the fact that Lizel takes all of this in stride are about the only things noteworthy about this series, though. Sure, Nizel and Gil are both sharp enough that each can estimate the other’s intent, but that just means that the bulk of the first episode comes down to characters sitting or standing around talking – including the most lifeless Adventurer Guild employee imaginable (and yes, a guy instead of a girl, since this is BL) – and frankly, that’s pretty dull. Weak technical merits that get even weaker when the episode tries to slide into comedy moments don’t help. Can’t see anything here to get enthusiastic about.

An Adventurer’s Daily Grind at Age 29

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Hajime grew up in the slums, scrabbling to survive,but he did, and now he’s a 29-year-old adventurer working for a village where he’s much-appreciated for the medicine and meat he brings in. Hence he has more than a little sympathy for little Rirui, an abandon girl he finds trying (and failing) to kill a slime in the local dungeon. He knows the local orphanage won’t take her because she’s not from this village and it’s struggling as it is, but can he look after her himself? Things get more interesting when it appears that Rirui might be more than she seems, possibly even one of the “ancient species.” And if the local Guild lady is correct, Rirui is a potentially problematic one, too.

This manga-based series falls at or near the bottom of the seasonal barrel on visuals, which is a shame because its story set-up and execution is more inviting than that. It seems to be going down a familiar “adult takes in a little kid” path, and despite following very familiar story beats it manages to start building a cute, endearing relationship between Hajime (who’s not as jaded as he’d like to think he is) and Rirui. The one twist the episode offers is Rirui’s possible true nature, which doesn’t come up until the episode’s last scene but promises all manner of complications once it drops. I’m interested enough to see where this goes to watch another episode or two, but overall this one’s on the fence for whether I follow it or not this season.

Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

In his previous life, Van was (apparently) a corporate drone. Now he’s the 2-year-old fourth son of a powerful marquis. Because of his memories of his past life, he comes across as a prodigy up until his eighth year, when a person’s talent for magic is evaluated. Shockingly, he does not have the elemental magic all other members of his family has, which is considered essential for nobles. (It’s primarily used for attack and defense, which is a noble responsibility.) He instead has production magic, which is considered useless since it just duplicates nonmagical processes. Because of this, he is effectively banished to an unnamed, undeveloped village on the fringe of the marquis’ territory, which he is supposed to develop. Several servants and guards decide to go with him, for better or worse from Van’s viewpoint.

I almost have to wonder if the title for this LN adaptation is meant to be ironic, since the anime version has an OP that’s the antithesis of “easygoing” and fairly brisk pacing. The set-up – which is pretty much all the first episode is – makes this look like it’s going to be a bog-standard “his magic is much more special and useful than it looks like it is” tale, and hey, it even has a grateful slave, too! (Only this time it’s a male slave.) Still, I couldn’t quite bring myself to dislike this one. It has some real characters in its supporting cast, presents the protagonist as likable, and doesn’t needlessly dwell on anything. The technical merits aren’t anything special but it doesn’t look bad, either. The meat of its premise starts next episode, so I will likely give it at least another episode or two to see how it establishes itself from here.

Yoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

The original Samurai Troopers came out in Japan in 1988 and made it to the U.S. in the mid-90s under the name Ronin Warriors. This sequel is set 35 years later. While the first episode’s intro does explain the basic premise of the original, I still recommend reading up a little bit on the original if you never watched it or haven’t seen it in decades. And it may be worth the effort to do so because there’s nothing shabby about this next-generation tale.

Essentially, the Demon Emperor Arago once invaded Earth via Shinjuku, but was ultimately fought off by an armored sentai team called Samurai Troopers. The leadership of Japan tried to learn its lesson for that and so set up a special task for to hedge against another such invasion. The problem with this is that the current crop of advertised heroes are mere poster boys for the task force, and they have neither the power and equipment nor (in most cases) the will to stand up against the demon forces when they suddenly reappear again. but there’s something curious about the Ten Warriors leading the demons: they seem to actually be humans (though they don’t acknowledge this themselves) and are familiar with ’80s music. One who is defeated and captured even seems to be a legitimate heir to one of the original Samurai Trooper armor sets.

So this is still a super sentai-themed shonen action-style series, but it offers up enough intriguing mysteries to keep a viewer’s attention even if one doesn’t become fully invested in the action elements. It also clearly sends a message about image vs. intent when it comes to being a hero. (The poster boys, who’d rather loot than fight when push comes to shove, don’t fare well.) All of this is powered by a fairly strong visual and animation effort, though caution that this does get pretty bloody and that includes kids being killed, too. I can’t see the timing being right for this to catch on as a generational staple the way its predecessor did, but it’s at least worth a look.

The Darwin Incident

Streams: Prime Video on Tuesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

In 2005, animal rights activists raiding a laboratory to free animals discovered a female chimpanzee in the process of miscarrying, so they chose to save it. That led to the birth of Charlie, a human/chimp hybrid dubbed a “humanzee.” 15 years later, Charlie is now a teenager and ready to start high school, something his adoptive mother seems more concerned about than Charlie does. While Charlie draws a lot of attention and curiosity, the first student to actually try to befriend him is Lucy, a loner whom Charlie helped out what her effort to rescue a cat from a tree went awry. Meanwhile, the same activist group who once rescued Charlie has reformed into a new, more violent iteration, and they have their sights set on Charlie as part of the war they intend to carry out.

This manga adaptation is arguably one of the season’s more thought-provoking titles, and not just about Charlie, who may look very different but sounds like a normal teenager when he speaks. It also delves into controversial topics like veganism and the extent to which efforts to end animal cruelty can be morally justified. It’s not at all subtle about wanting to make statements, either; after all, they did name the girl Charlie befriends Lucy, which is absolutely intended as a reference to a key figure in mankind’s evolutionary ancestry, and makes the point that shooting a disease-ridden animal to protect one’s self isn’t any different than shooting a disease-ridden human for the same reason. While the technical merits and English dub aren’t spectacular, the series does put in an above-average effort to make its teenagers feel more genuine, and there’s certainly some interesting story potential here. It may not be the most graceful handling of its topic, but there’s enough going on here for the series to be worth watching.

The Case Book of Arne

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Louis Hartmann, the son of a detective who always emphasized studying the practical elements of the world, is left alone when his father was murdered, perhaps after getting too close to the “grave-digging vampire” supposedly behind a recent string of blood-draining killings. Louis is determined to ferret out the killer on his own, and he isn’t dissuaded from that when he encounters the girl Lynn Reinweiss and the boy Arne, whom she claims is a great detective. (There’s also a nun who looks like she’s stitched together like a Frankenstein-like monster.) He rebuffs both their offer of help and any notion that this is actually a supernatural matter. Eventually, his convictions are proven both right an disastrously wrong, leaving Arne to step in to resolve the matter.

This series is based on a gothic horror adventure game made with RPG Maker and released as freeware in 2017. If you’re not familiar with the game then the first episode can be misleading – almost certainly deliberately so – because the character positioned as the viewpoint character (and thus the protagonist) actually isn’t in that role for the long term despite some advertisement to the contrary. In other words, this episode is a fake-out about on the level of the first episode of The Eminence in Shadow. That means the real structure of the series won’t start until episode 2, but the first episode does lay out what to expect: stories that might look cute up front but can turn out to be quite bloody and supernatural in the end. I went into this with no expectations and so liked the twist in the episode’s late stages, and the content certainly doesn’t hurt for visual design or appeal. Overall, it largely works as a gothic dip into the supernatural realm.

Isekai Office Worker

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Seiichirou is a 30-year-old corporate drone gong home from overtime work when he sees a girl being dragged into a summoning circle. His attempt to rescue her results in him being dragged along to another world, too. Where she was summoned to be a holy maiden to stop an expected eruption of toxic miasma that happens once a century, he’s just an extra, so he decides to get a job working for the kingdom’s accounting – or what passes for it, anyway. He soon gets disgusted by lackadaisical practices that he feels could leave the kingdom unprepared to handle a miasma outbreak and so pushes for reforms, which brings him to the attention of both the prime minister and a handsome knight captain.

This light novel adaptation looks to be a relative rarity in the field of isekai: a BL story. That’s not normally my thing, but the accounting angle being taken here is actually interesting enough to make that only a secondary consideration. While this wouldn’t be the first isekai title to emphasize the summoning kingdom’s finances, this is, I believe, the first one to specifically look at how that might affect preparedness for the kind of calamity that a summoning is normally done for. As might be expected, character designs load up on dashing bishonen, but otherwise the artistic and technical merits are unremarkable. Still, there’s enough of a sense of potential intrigue here to make for a few possible angles of interest even for those not into BL.

The Demon King’s Daughter Is Too Kind!!

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

The great Demon King, Ahriman, seeks to forcibly unite all of the demon lands and then conquer the world. There’s exactly one thing stopping him, though: his young daughter Doux. She’s much too kind and good-natured to be a proper demon, and his worry over that (and general doting on her) is too much of a distraction for him to plan a proper invasion. He calls upon Jahi, one of his most trusted underlings, to train her to be a proper demon, but Jahi quickly realizes that she has her work cut out for her. In her own way, Doux is ever bit as much of an irrepressible force as her father, just not in the way a proper demon should be.

A hardened professional who gets completely discombobulated by a young child is a relatively common comedy gimmick, and this series leans heavily into this trope It indulges so much in cute factor that each of its two debut episodes (I can only think that the second one is present to assure audiences that the first one isn’t a fluke) features a children’s song by young Doux. If that was all the series did, it would be a lightly amusing little romp. However, the series also has a completely disarming emotional element to it, too, one which also pops up in both episodes. Both are connected to guest-appearance human characters and how Doux’s interactions with them (and her use of her magic towards them) innocently alters the surprisingly sad circumstances that those characters are dealing with. The message here is simple but inescapable: people can be won over at least as effectively with kindness as with any form of intimidation or cruelty.

Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about this one yet, as it can so completely upend your expectations. But it’s definitely worth at least a sample.

Tune In to the Midnight Heart

Stremas: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

Arisu Yamambuki, the heir to a powerful conglomerate, is an arrogant perfectionist and complete ass. The one thing he’ needs to complete his perfection is to seek out Apollo, a girl whose unpopular stream he followed religiously in middle school until she mysteriously stopped streaming. Three years later, he’s attending a recently-integrated high school with the specific intent of seeking out Apollo, about whom he only know the sound of her voice. To his dismay, he discovers that all four of the girls in the school’s broadcast club have some vocal element he remembers from Apollo but also distinct flaws, and so he can’t conclusive pin down any of them as the real deal. Since all of them aspire to pursue careers in different kinds of vocal work (all of which Apollo mentioned as possibilities), he decides to join the broadcast club on the promise of updating their ancient equipment and supporting them all in becoming professionals.

This manga-based adaptation is one of those “who is the girl I remember from younger days” kinds of light mystery stories. There’s nothing wrong with that premise – who hasn’t wondered whatever happened to a favorite whom they remembered from younger days? – and it does have one of the season’s best titles. (It refers to the name of Apollo’s stream from back in the day.) But this debut has two main problems. The biggest is that Arisu is utterly insufferable, enough so that it kills anything else the first episode tries to do. The second problem is that the distribution of the four girls in the club is too calculated, too manufactured. (Though I suppose that could be meant as a bit of irony, given how calculating a character Arisu is.) And I’m not sure how I feel about the revelation at the end that Apollo is actually present but just not choosing to reveal herself yet; the concept may have played better without that. With artistic and technical merits that are only ordinary, the negatives outweigh the potential interest factors here.

There Was a Cute Girl in the Hero’s Party, So I Tried Confessing to Her

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Yoki is a demon whose main job is to thwart the hero’s party from reaching the Demon King. Perhaps because he’s a reincarnate, he is actually incredibly OP (more so than the Demon King, in fact), so he has repeatedly defeated the hero’s party but not killed them. Though he uses the pretext of them being too weak to bother with, it’s actually because he’s been lovestruck by Cecilia, the hero’s resident priestess/healer. He even lets the rest of the hero party go to defeat the Demon King just so he can confess to her. When she politely turns him down, he eventually resolves to pose as a human adventurer to rise enough in the ranks as a human to try to win her heart that way. That’s when things start to get complicated.

This one is based on the 2020s manga adaptation of a light novel series which release three volumes from 2013 to 2015, so it’s possible this single cour will cover the entirety of the source material. Its debut episode is getting only a middling grade because it has possibly the weakest technical and artistic merits of the season so far. That’s a shame because the first episode is otherwise surprisingly likable. Cecilia rejecting Yoki at first is perfectly understandable; he did just drop his confession on her out of the blue (from her viewpoint) and had been the main figure standing in the way of her and her party, after all. However, there’s a growing sense by the end of the episode that his chances with her aren’t hopeless after all, since his sincerity (most of the other proposal she receives in the wake of the Demon King’s defeat have been politically-motivated) and the fact that he chose to pass as human and work his way up to win her over have made an impression on her (and, importantly, her mother, too). Whether or not this actually needed to be an isekai story is a debatable point, but it strikes a lighter and sweeter (but not outright comedic) tone than I was expecting, and it does take the more unusual route of focusing on the aftermath of the hero’s victory. Despite the artistry, it shows enough other promise that I will probably follow this one.

You Can’t Be in a Rom-Com With Your Childhood Friends!

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

Yonosuke Sakai (aka Eiyu) has an enviable problem: he doesn’t just have one female childhood friend who is a neighbor, attends the same school, and has grown up to be a hottie; he has two! While he’s long believed romance would never be in the cards for him with either Shio or Akari, he’s had a harder time convincingly himself of that lately. That’s partly because, unbeknownst to him, both of them have developed romantic feelings towards him, so their cute actions that would have once been innocent aren’t any longer. It’s all Eiyu can do to behave himself around them anymore, even though him not behaving himself is exactly what both of the girls want.

Part of this manga adaptation’s problem is timing. Had this series come out even three years ago it might have fared better with all of its meta romcom shenanigans. Unfortunately for it, 100 Girlfriends and Makeine have combined to raise the bar on the genre; the former is vastly more fun and frenetic, while the latter features better technical merits and vastly better writing. It’s nowhere close to sexy enough to go the salacious route, either; in fact, despite some antics which should be sexy (one of the girls slipping into Eiyu’s bed in the morning, a couple of panty shots, both girls riding his legs in class), it’s so remarkably tame that the series seems to be doing it deliberately. If it wants to go the meta route (which it does seem to want to) then it needs to be even more self-aware than this as well. The artistry and technical merits don’t look bad, but the series flatly fails to distinguish itself in any way. Two more girls are advertised by the somewhat catchy OP, but I can’t see their addition changing this problem much; in fact, they just make it look even more like an inferior version of Makeine.

Wash It All Away

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Wakana Kinme is a young woman who has been running a laundry service on her own in the resort town of Atami for the past two years. She cheerily approaches her work with great diligence as she goes about her daily routine, seemingly on good terms with everyone. She also catches the attention of the teenage son of a local business owner, whose mother frequents Kinme Cleaning.

This adaptation of a manga by the creator of Sankarea: Undying Love is a perfectly pleasant slice-of-life piece which gets into so much detail about the workings of a laundry business that it’s either very well-researched or else the creator has work experience in this field. It’s also, unfortunately, perfectly dull. The production team seems to realize this and so tends to emphasize Wakana’s generous figure in a lightly fan servicey way. Granted, the first episode primarily involves establishing Wakana’s business, personality, and routine, but I’d still hope for a bit more of a spark here, like a greater emphasis on the stories that could be derived from a person’s laundry. The two mildly curious bits are speculation about why she’s doing this solo (no family, coworkers, or loved ones are shown in her life, which doesn’t allow much room for recreation beyond her nightly hot springs baths) and an offhand comment implying that she might be suffering from amnesia about her past before two years ago. That’s not enough to get me to watch more, though. Sankarea was a strong hit for me, but this one looks like a miss.

Journal with Witch

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)

35-year-old Makio hated her older sister and holds no particular affection for her 15-year-old niece Asa, but she’s also not about to let Asa just be passed around the family as a burden after Makio’s sister and brother-in-law (Asa’s parents) die in an accident. Despite being a loner herself, she invites Asa into her messy home on the understanding that she may never love Asa but won’t ever trample over Asa’s feelings, either. For Asa, who feels like she’s been thrown alone into a desert, that’s a relationship she can live with and perhaps even come to find comfort in, especially as she comes to appreciate that not all adults have their acts together, either.

This adaptation of a completed manga by prolific manga-ka Tomoko Yamashita (The Night Beyond the Tricorner Window) is going to be one of the season’s least flashy, most understated titles, and honestly I don’t think it would work anywhere near as well any other way. It is a compelling and surprisingly heartfelt look at an adult who’s alone by choice taking in a teenager who’s alone by circumstance and how both of them try to work that out, told entirely from the viewpoint of Asa. Makio may not be the most caring person in the world (okay, she definitely isn’t), but she does seem to empathize with headspace Asa finds herself in, and that makes for a much more intriguing situation than the more ordinary “adopt an abandoned child” scenario. Major kudos go to Kensuke Ushio (The Dangers in My Heart, DAN DA DAN, Orb) for the gentle, wonderfully poignant background music and to first-time director Miyuki Oshiro for the emphasis on Asa’s viewpoint and understanding of when to, and not to, focus on little details. I’m not sure if I will actually follow this series, but its first episode certainly warrants a following.

The Daily Life of a Part-Time Torturer

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 1 ( of 5)

In Sero’s world, torture is legal (though only used on villains!) and torture contract companies are a thing. He decided to try working for torture company Spirytus after a succession of other part-time jobs didn’t work out and has found this job to be his best fit yet. He works with senpai Shiu (a star in the business) and with relative newcomers Mike (who looks young and adorable but has a sadistic streak) and Hyuu (a giant who can’t stand blood but is good with any other kind of torture) as the group deals with various workplace travails like training and shopping for new equipment.

This manga adaptation presumably has an intended audience but I’ll be damned if I can figure out who that intended audience is. It stages itself as a light-hearted workplace comedy consisting of a number of short vignettes, which only occasionally involve actual torture and only suggest what’s being done rather than actually show anything. Even so, that element is always hanging in the background, and the irony I think the writing is aiming for doesn’t overcome the lingering nastiness behind it all. It’s been a while since I’ve had this viscerally negative a reaction to a new series, so I definitely won’t be watching more.

Kunon the Sorcerer Can See

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

This light novel adaptation tells the story of Kunon, a son of a marques born blind due to a rarely-appearing phenomenon called a Hero’s Scar. He is very dejected with life until, at age 7, he is convinced to learns magic and discovers that he not only has a real talent for water magic but might also eventually be able to use it to create artificial eyes for himself. Indeed, even by age 9 he can somewhat sense colors using his magic. The way this infuses him with confidence even to the point of being a bit cheeky (no doubt at least partly because of a cheeky maid who supports him) delights the princess that he is betrothed to and perplexes his older brother, but it may also run him afoul of the princess’s older brother.

Although in some senses this feels like an ordinary fantasy story, it’s actually very different in it goals an execution, a study not in quickly becoming OP but instead in using one’s magic to compensate for a disability. As long as the story sticks to that angle, the series has the potential to stand out from the crowd. On the plus side, it uses its two-episode debut well to establish its central characters and relationships well, and it even hints at some ingenious uses for water magic, such as effectively making cushioned tires for a carriage. On the downside, the artistic effort is quite ordinary and misses a golden opportunity to do something special with the way Kunon visualizes magic. It also has a quirky sense of humor that doesn’t always work. This one is also middle-of-the-pack as to whether it actually needed a double-episode debut. Still, there’s enough going for it here to warrant watching more.

Noble Reincarnation: Born Blessed, So I’ll Obtain Ultimate Power

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

In this light novel adaptation, the protagonist is named Noah Ararat, he has top-tier water magic, and in the first episode he deals with the aftermath of a flood. Makes me wonder if we’re going to see other Biblical references in this one.

Beyond that, it’s a fairly ordinary-seeming reincarnation story, though in this case the implication is that Noah was originally an adult in the same world who was reborn as the Emperor’s 13th son. He seems to have two broken talents: an unlimited level cap (this seems to be a game stats-based setting) and the hidden ability to gain benefits from his subordinates and/or his domain. After his birth, the story forwards to him at age six (though he acts far more mature than that!) and using his authority to buy up land in a flooded village so it doesn’t get savaged by speculators. He also deals with a troublesome magic sword and puts down a local noble trying to embezzle relief funds. In other words, he’s generally proving to be a great young man.

There’s a lot to be concerned about here, including how he’s suspiciously surrounded by maids who are all young, big-breasted hotties, but two things save the series so far: Noah’s very serious, calculating demeanor and the strong hints of political intrigue which look like they may be in play. It also wins points for featuring a beautiful song for its ED. I’m not at all sold yet that this one will be worth following, but it’s at least earned another episode or two.

Hana-Kimi

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Mizuki has been living in America for years, but decides to return to Japan to attend the same high school as Sano, a track high jumper she idolizes. That Sano attends an all-boys school isn’t a barrier to her plans; she’ll just cut her hair and pretend to be a guy. (She has a slight figure, so she doesn’t have to resort to extraordinary measures.) Naturally she ends up as Sano’s roommate in the school’s dorms, and naturally, he’s no longer doing track for Reasons. Her real gender doesn’t remain a complete secret for long; the school doctor quickly figures it out, and Sano soon has strong suspicions, too, while another classmate she befriends is starting to have conflicting feelings about her because he finds himself attracted to Mizuki but hasn’t figured it out.

If all of this sounds like very tropey shojo romcom, that’s because its source material probably did it first. It’s based on an influential manga which originally ran in Japan from 1996 to 2004 and, if it didn’t start the “passing one’s self off as the opposite gender at school” wave of stories which came out in the 2000s, it certainly had a hand in popularizing them. That’s why nearly everything this double-episode debut does feels bog-standard, but at least it’s executed competently and done with very attractive artistry, including plenty of not-so-subtle flower imagery. It also has a solid English simuldub, too! Unlike with Sentenced to be a Hero, though, I don’t see why the double-episode debut is warranted here, as it’s not like the second episode fleshes out the premise or changes the dynamic much. In all, this one should be a staple view for fans of the genre, but I can’t see it drawing in a broader audience.

Fate/strange Fake

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)

This newest installment in the sprawling Fate franchise debuted its 55-minute special -Whispers of Dawn- (effectively episode 0) in mid-2023 and the first episode of the TV series proper at the end of 2024. Now, finally, we’re getting the actual series, and since I haven’t previously covered it, I am including a brief look at the special and episode 1 here.

If you’re not at all familiar with the Fate franchise then this isn’t a good entry point. While comprehensive knowledge of the franchise isn’t required (as the bulk of the characters introduced here are new), the more familiar you are with the franchise’s details, the more likely you are to appreciate the series and what it’s doing differently than previous installments. Essentially, organizations in the United States are attempting to force an artificial Grail War in a fictional city in Nevada, but they’re attempting to do with with six Mages instead of the normal seven to avoid summoning the Saber class. But there’s a wild card in play who’s attempting to make sure Saber (expected to be Artoria again) does show up, and the Einzberns have compelled a Japanese girl who insists that she’s not a Mage (but still has command seals!) to come to the venue and get involved, though she’d rather not. But the people attempting to set this up have woefully overestimated how much control they have over the process. A fake Grail War is sure to engender all sorts of strangeness and chaos, including a Master who isn’t human (or even humanoid!), a Heroic Spirit who’s a god, another Heroic Spirit who has no body because no one knew who he was, and a certain rascal of a student from a certain lord of the Watch Tower, the latter of whom now finds the roles reversed compared to Fate/Zero. And oh, yes, Saber does show, but isn’t Artoria, and makes sure that what’s going to happen isn’t going to be able to be kept completely secret.

While these first two installments are more talking and set-up than action, there is definitely a strong action component present, and this is both as flashy and as bloody as long-time fans have come to expect from the franchise. The most interesting of many intriguing aspects so far are the new Saber and the rather different role for Gilgamesh, who’s still as arrogant as ever but is taking a Native American girl under his wing who knows exactly how to be respectful and couch the situation in terms that Gilgamesh will appreciate. The nature of Berserker this time around is also quite intriguingly different. All of this is supported by an upper-tier animate effort, too. If the rest of the series can live up to the hype established by the previously-released content, this will be one of the highlight series of the season.

Sentenced To Be a Hero

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

In Xylo Forbartz’s world, being a “hero” is the worst kind of punishment, as heroes are forced to fight on the front lines against the Demon Blight and are resurrected to fight again if killed. Goddesses, meanwhile, are girls who make pacts with a chosen warrior in order to empower them enough to fight the Demon Lords that are the masters of the blight. Xylo once had such a pact, but it ended so badly that he wound up as a hero and swore never to rely on a goddess again. But that’s exactly the situation he finds himself in which his squire/fellow hero steals a box which turns out to contain the goddess Teoritta, who was being transported to a stronghold when her escort was attacked by Fairies (animals monstrously altered by the Demon Blight). Eventually, the effort to rescue some embattled soldiers from attacking Fairies and a Demon Lord becomes so dire that Xylo has no choice but to listen to Teoritta’s entreaties and bond with her, too.

This is one of the more novel fantasy premises to come along in quite some time, and its 58-minute-long debut is absolutely warranted, since that much time is needed to fully convey both the concept and the foundational reason why Xylo is so reluctant to get involved with Teoritta when he clearly knows how much he could benefit from making a pact with her. It is also likely to be one of the season’s most sumptuously-animated debuts, with an old-school, heavy-lined style reminiscent of last year’s Clevatess and plenty of flashy action scenes to show it off. That spectacle could carry the debut alone, but this episode also does a fine job of laying out its world-building without resorting to an ounce of info-dumping and setting up a core mystery for Xylo to fight back against. (There are suggestions that the circumstances leading to the death of Xylo’s former goddess were a set-up, and the denial of the consequences for Xylo not killing her are mighty suspicious, too.) Complete with a simuldub featuring long-time ADV/Sentai VA David Matranga, this one is a keeper.

Tamon’s B-Side

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)

In this manga adaptation, teenager Utage is a religiously-devoted superfan of the boy band F/ACE, in particular its “wild child” Tamon. To support her hobby, she works part-time for a housekeeping service, and one such job actually brings her to the apartment of her idol! She discovers that he’s actually a gloomy, self-deprecating wreck when not in Work Mode, but that doesn’t faze her one bit. To her, Tamon is a treasure which must be shared with the world, and she’ll do everything she can to support him – even if that means keeping her distance once her stint as his housekeeper is done. But that’s not what Tamon wants, and he makes sure Utage knows it.

While I’m hesitant to call one of the season’s earliest debuts the biggest surprise of the season, there’s no getting around how much this debut left me stunned. This concept should not have worked anywhere near as well as it did, but that’s what happens when a show nails its emotional appeal, delivers on its honest character motivations, and supports it all with both a keen, dynamic visuals. Sure, the performance numbers are mostly done in CG, and that is the one negative here, but this episode made me actually care about Utage and Tamon, to the point that I could even end up following this show – and considering that I normally stay well away from idol series, that’s no small feat.

Jack-of-All-Trades, Party of None

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

There are two “banished from the Hero’s party” series this season, and this is the one which features a male protagonist. In a fantasy setting where roles in adventuring parties are heavily regimented, Orhun started as a swordsman but switched to being an enchanter (a supporting spellcaster) to fill a party need. But though his party became successful enough to become known as the “Hero’s Party,” he was judged to not be capable enough as an enchanter (mostly because he was judged against an unfairly high standard) and so let go. In the wake of that, he’s determined to blend his enchanting and swordfighting into a new fighting style, and in the process of doing so he winds up saving a young mage who was left behind by her party when they ran from a threat too strong for them. Now he’s been invited to help shepherd a major guild’s newbies through an upcoming trial.

The concept of a melee fighter who uses self-buffs and some offensive casting as part of his fighting style is a common one in fantasy RPGs (see the Bladesinger subclass of fighter in Dungeons and Dragons, for instance, or the Magic Swordsman role in DanMachi), so if what Orhun is trying to develop is considered revolutionary then this fantasy world is behind the times. That’s my main beef with what is otherwise a very ordinary set-up for its concept. It does try to make its action more dynamic with some interesting perspective shots in its CG-enhanced battle scenes, but that’s not enough for it to stand out. It’s going to have to do a lot more, and soon, to prove that it’s worth following this season.

Ren Arisugawa is Actually a Girl

Streams: OceanVeil on Sundays*

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Note: The first episode had a special debut on 12/12/25. Its regular run starts on 1/4.

In this full hentai short (6:30 run time), Kyohei played with the now-popular TV star Ren as a kid, but no one will believe that he’s her cousin. When Ren unexpectedly shows up at his door one night, apparently fleeing some obligations, Kyohei soon learns that Ren is actually a girl. Since Kyohei is rather pent up, oral sex ensues, but now that Kyohei knows Ren’s secret, he’s about to get dragged into a bigger mess.

Kyohei comes off as an insensitive ass and the runtime is too short for anything to develop properly; this would have probably worked better with a runtime more around 11-12 minutes. Still, there is uncensored nudity and oral sex acts in the version OceanVeil has, so if that’s your thing then this won’t disappoint.

Ichigo Aika: Strawberry Elegy

Streams: OceanVeil on Sundays*

Rating: 2 (of 5)

Note: The first episode had a special debut on 12/12/25. Its regular run starts on 1/4.

In this full hentai short (a bit over 6 minutes), Kota and his new stepsister, the gyaru Aika, get off on entirely the wrong foot at their initial introduction. Kota later has to put up with Aika secretly bringing guys over to have sex when their parents aren’t around. But complications arise when Kota overhears her most recent boy toy trying to violate her rule on using a condom.

This one has the slight twists that the first sexual activity isn’t between the two main characters and that condom use is specifically emphasized, but it’s too soon to tell if anything will come from the story beyond step-siblings getting together sexually. On the downside, while Aika looks plenty attractive enough, the artistry seems to be going out of its way to make Kota look drab. OceanVeil’s version is, at least, uncensored, but so far this isn’t looking like one of the site’s better offerings.