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Fall 2026 Preview Guide

Last Update: 12:40 a.m. EDT 10/6/26

Welcome to my preview guide for the Fall 2026 anime season! For a list of what is debuting when, check out the Seasonal Schedule, which should be fully ready by the evening of 9/27 EDT.

Per usual, this Guide may be updated multiple times per day on busier days (which should start with 10/2). Also per usual, I will be covering nearly every debuting/returning series that isn’t a short or a sequel to/continuation of a franchise that I am not current on. This time around, the latter case will include the new Ace of Diamond, Cardfight!! Vanguard, Duel Masters, and Prince of Tennis series and sequels to Aoashi, Blue Box, Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, Hotel Inhumans, Mission: Yozakura Family, Ramparts of Ice, Sasaki and Peeps, Tougen Anki, and Tokyo Revengers. Additionally, The Apothecary Diaries s3 will be taken straight to episode reviews and so won’t appear in this Guide.

UPDATE 10/3: The new Sgt. Frog is also apparently a sequel rather than a reboot, so I will not be covering it, either.

Titles which were part of the Crunchyroll Sneak Peek – Fall 2026 had their debuts covered there and so also won’t appear here. Those include Black Clover s2, Firefly Wedding, Overgeared, Psyren, and The Vermilion Mask.

Currently I am expecting this guide to conclude with the debut of Dark Machine the Animation on 10/13. Devils’ Crest, which is set to debut on 11/6, will either be covered separately or as part the Fall Mid-Season Report in mid-November.

So What’s Wrong With Being Reborn as a Goblin?

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 2.5

The things that 29-year-old Akira thought about as he lay dying from rescuing a child from Truck-kun define what he was reborn as in his new world: a little blue goblin. In this world, goblins only live for seven days, but to compensate they breed very fast and each have a skill which they can pass onto another nearby goblin when they die. (But they can only pass on the skill they’re born with.) This answers Akira’s dying wish to pass on his skills, while a desire to have lived longer shapes his own unique skill: Octogenarian, which assures his lifespan is 80 years instead. That allows him to accumulate an enormous number of skills, including a potent one from a dying Archfiend, and leads to him becoming the mayor of his goblin village and going into a nearby human town to parley with the local margrave. He also establishes a cordial relationship with a female knight and seems to be winning over a former follower of the Archfiend. But he seems to not realize that all of this and his efforts to better organize the goblins are making him one hellacious threat in the eyes of some.

This is the second isekai series featuring a protagonist reborn as a goblin (see Re:Monster) but this one takes a significantly different trajectory. While its first two episodes oftentimes feel like they’re on the cusp of doing something interesting, the series also has trouble keeping its own internal logic straight, especially how a humanoid race whose members live for only seven days even makes any kind of practical sense. It also heavily leans on slow panning shots to stretch out its limited animation budget. The series does at least seem to acknowledge that goblins having very limited lifespans is a necessary balancing factor in this world, as they could become powerful to an unbalanced degree if they lived even partial human lifespans, and Akira is going to be Exhibit A for that. This is one I could see becoming a volume casualty for my viewing list this season.


Magical Girl Raising Project Restart

Streams: OceanVeil on Mondays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

The “Restart” in the title of this light novel-based series does not refer to a franchise reboot, but rather a re-initiation of the Magical Girl Raising Project event which defines this franchise. Hence this is instead a direct sequel to its 2016 predecessor. That being said, newcomers won’t miss any context here until the battle in the last two minutes, as it looks like most of the story is focusing on an entirely new group of contestants.

One of them is Pechka, a middle school-aged girl who has become a magical girl whose magic allows her to make especially delicious food. She uses that to deliver lunch to a boy she’s crushing on, though she’s too timid to do it in her real identity. As she’s moping over that she’s suddenly sucked into another world where she must fight skeletons and part of some kind of “tutorial” and collect magical candies. A diverse array of other magical girls also make their appearances. None are clear on what, exactly, is going on here but some are already scheming to make the best of their circumstances. Meanwhile, a mysterious magical girl named Snow White (one of the two survivors from the first series) seems to be going around taking out “evil” magical girls, and a mysterious figure seems inclined to help her.

The first series was about contests designed to recruit new magical girls for the Magic World, contests which got warped into death games by a bored mascot and another magical girl, but it remains to be seen if this time around is going to be quite so ruthless. Certainly there are a few of these magical girls who look like they’ll be no good in a fight (including Pechka), but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything in this format. What’s most important at this point is that all of the magical girls look interesting and probably have some degree of story behind them which explains their magical girl form, and those will doubtlessly come into play as this scenario progresses. The debut is getting a middling rating because the episode is almost all set-up, but it does at least lay the groundwork from some more exciting events and it should be interesting to see how far Snow White has gone down the more proactive path she started out on in the first series. This is a likely keeper despite the rating.

Hello, I am a Witch and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Despite her relative youth, Rose is the “Good” Witch of the Lake, a title she inherited when her grandmother passed on four years earlier. She still lives in the same island hermitage, only rarely going into town for ingredients, which has resulted in a more isolated life than she’d prefer. Her heart leaps when a knight she’s quietly been crushing on for those four years comes calling, but she quickly deflates when he reveals that he’s seeking a love potion. He’s earnest enough about it that she reluctantly agrees, though she draws out the collecting of ingredients as much as possible to get just a little more time with him.

Based on the premise for this light novel adaptation, I was expecting a more light-hearted short. What we get instead is an almost entirely serious lonely-girl story, one amplified by this witch having no talking familiar or other adorable little critters around to ameliorate he loneliness; there’s just a merchant whom she’s known since she was little who occasionally visits to procure her potions for sale. The crush she knew was unrealistic was all she really had, a crush based on the knight once defending her grandmother from people celebrating the grandmother’s death. While that makes this a maudlin tale, it doesn’t exaggerate to the point of misery porn, and it is capable of little bits of humor. It also looks quite good while doing all of this, too. While this isn’t a spectacular opening episode, it conveys enough appeal in its little details and uncertainties about the knight’s real intent to convince me to watch more.

Tank Chair

Streams: Amazon Prime Video on Sundays

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)

Guicheng Island is a dangerous, overdeveloped place alternating between modern high rises and rundown neighborhoods. In it, Nagi was once among the strongest and most feared assassins, but taking a bullet protecting his kidnapped young sister left him wheelchair bound and in a usually-catatonic state. However, his sister Shizuka discovers that when Nagi is subjected to a strong enough killing intent, he can snap out of it for a while, so she seeks out the most dangerous missions for him in the hopes that a sufficiently strong killing intent might permanently restore him. Their task this episode involves taking out Goro, a genetically-doped gorilla who’s been wreaking havoc on the transports and workers of her employer. And that gives Nagi a chance to show of his souped-up wheelchair and a combat acumen that being disabled has not dulled one bit, while Nagi eggs their opponents on with an accompanying drone.

How did this one slip under the radar for this season? Six years ago in a review of Drifting Dragons, I mentioned that I hoped that wouldn’t be the last directorial effort for Tadahiro “Tady” Yoshihara, and this explosive first episode shows exactly why. This is a top-tier CG animation effort from Polygon Pictures, done in a visual style somewhat reminiscent of Dorohedero, complete with fantastically detail-rich, rundown cityscapes, remarkably smooth character animation for CG, and plenty of spectacle when it comes time for action scenes. And boy, those certainly don’t disappoint for intensity, graphic content (albeit with off-colored blood splatters), or creative ways to make a tricked-out wheelchair suitably intimidating in a fight! Add in a strong supporting musical score by the prolific Masaru Yokoyama and just enough of an emotional angle in the Nagi/Shizuka relationship to ground it all and you have the scene’s most high-octane debut to date.

I’m Dating a Dark Summoner

Streams: HIDIVE on Sundays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

This half-length series is set in the swords and sorcery world of Palustia, where the horn-sporting Shin are a race said to be demons reborn (aka tieflings in certain fantasy RPG settings) Amona, one such Shin, is also a Dark Summoner, which means she summons demons for attack and knowledge. That doesn’t sit well with the priest Roni, whose party she’s been working with, and she doesn’t care for his righteous attitude. Despite that, they still wind up in bed together when staying at the same inn one night, thus starting a combative but still sordid relationship that they are very bad at hiding from others. When their party discovers a magical sexy bunny outfit in a dungeon chest, Amona soon learns what fetish Roni is weakest towards.

Apparently Sundays are fan service days this season! This adaptation of an online ecchi manga follows squarely in the tradition of fare like Gushing Over Magical Girls, being only one step less raunchy than the dirtiest of this season’s OceanVeil offerings. Expect nudity, fairly explicit sex, and all sorts of adult-related humor as the two deal with each other and their cohorts, including an airheaded female warrior who pushed the two together, the dry wit of the female elvish archer, or the imp Amona summons who seems all about Amoni seducing Roni further. It’s all done with high spirits and a lot of fun, and its short gags format works well with 12-minute episodes. This one’s a likely keeper.

My Girlfriend’s Friend

Streams: OceanVeil on Sundays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Takeru and Kaori have known each other for a long time and recently upgraded to dating, much to Kaori’s delight. But Takeru’s got a not-so-little problem: Kaori’s buxom friend Tomoko is secretly coming onto him hard. She claims to him that she can’t get excited if something as extreme as cheating isn’t involved (and indeed, there does seem to be some evidence to that effect) and seems unconcerned about how this could affect Kaori if they’re found out. Though Takeru can’t help eyeing Tomoko’s generous figure, he’s fiercely dedicated enough to Kaori that he doesn’t slip even when Tomoko corners him in a bathroom stall for sex – for now, at least.

This adaptation of a web manga is part of the AnimeFesta block, so it being lurid is a given. Indeed, its very first image is a panty shot, and it later both goes out of its way to put in panty shots at every opportunity and features some nudity in a strongly sexual situation. There’s not much else to this one so far beyond that and Takeru having to fight off heavy-duty temptation, and there are some logical holes; for instance, if Tomoko has been doing this kind of thing for a while, I have a hard time believing that Kaori wouldn’t have noticed. This clearly doesn’t seem to be an “I’m testing him on my friend’s behalf” situation, either, given how miffed Tomoko looks when he flees from her in the bathroom scene. While the episode has a full 23-minute slot, the main story content is only 12 minutes long, with the remaining time forming a couple of rather stupid SD shorts. Overall, this may work with some audiences as a super-trashy temptation story, but I wouldn’t expect more than that and the copious fan service.

From Far Away

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Noriko’s father wrong science fiction stories that sometimes involved alternate worlds, but she didn’t take seriously the notion that the dreams she’s been having lately of another place might be one – until she found herself transported in a flash of light after following a bird of light only she can see. She finds herself in an unfamiliar forest with giant, hungry larvae-like insects, from which she’s saved by a dashing, almost superhumanly capable man. Though a language barrier prevents them from communicating, she comes to understand that his name is Izark and decides to trust him since he seems to be looking out for her. He, meanwhile, wonders if she might be the Awakening long prophecied to bring chaos to the world, an individual that multiple other countries are now actively looking for after sensing her arrival.

This is the second isekai based on a classic shojo manga (the source for this one ran from 1991 until 2002) in as many seasons, but unlike with Red River, I don’t thinks fans will be bitterly disappointed with this one. This is a vastly better-executed debut on almost every front, one which efficiently makes clear how big the stakes are concerning Noriko without ever distracting from the tension and action involved in Noriko’s encounter with Izark. The level of panic she shows is perfectly understandable but she still bucks up and quickly finds the resolve to move forward, making her a much more sympathetic heroine. This one also doesn’t just hand-wave the expected language barrier with magic (at least not yet), and the transitions from Noriko’s viewpoint to Izark’s were handled were cleverly-handed with a blur-out mechanic. The production even unobtrusively works in updates for setting the story in current times, such as by giving Noriko a smartphone that she quickly loses in the new world. Not sure if I will ultimately end up following this one, but it’s earned additional view on more than just reputation.

Even Though I’m a Super Timid Noble Girl

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

During a serious illness at age 10, Pia Rockwell, a count’s daughter, awakens to memories of a past life, where she was a budding paleobiologist who died in a store hold-up after being betrayed by a coworker she had fallen in love with. She also realizes that her current world is exactly like an otome game she used to play in that life, and she’s one of the fiancées who gets rejected by a love interest of the heroine ad the story’s climax. Desperate to not feel that kind of rejection again, Pia tries to convince her arranged fiancé, the prime minister’s son, to break off their engagement by passing off her knowledge of future game developments as a divine revelation. But that only piques the interest of Rufus Stan, enough so that he’s willing to put a bet with her in writing: if he should ever break off their engagement in the future, he’ll finance her desire to study fossils (a new concept in his world). And the more he observes her, the more he finds himself wanting to keep her close.

This isn’t the first “villainess with a twist” story by original author Hiro Oda, but it’s the first to get animated. While the premise may sound somewhat similar to last year’s An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess, it takes a significantly different angel: the viewpoint splits time about evenly between the two central characters, and in this case Pia is desperately trying to avoid her fate rather than live up the game role she’s been stuck in. This take on the concept also takes itself quite a bit more seriously, which results in a surprisingly involving opening episode. While Pia’s intent is mostly emotionally-based, Rufus’s is multifaceted: he’s taken aback by Pia’s lack of seeming ambition towards him and recognizes the value of both having someone like that to rely on and the innovations that Pia could potentially offer, and is perhaps curious about the prophecy, too. By the end of the episode he’s clearly come to value and care for her, and it seems like others have either noticed that or recognized Pia’s independent worth. The technical merits here aren’t anything special, but I am more interested in seeing this one play out than I initially expected to be. This one is a probable keeper.

Reborn as a Space Mercenary

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Sato Takahiro was an IT specialist by trade and an avid player of the open-world sci fi game Stella Online. Now he’s awoken in his OP ship from the game in deep space with no idea how he got there. While the ship seems to work just like he remembers, the bigger political picture he encounters when he gets to a space station (after taking down some pirates who tried to jump him) isn’t anything he recalls. While he tries to figure things out, he decides to formally register as the mercenary Captain Hiro (his game handle) with the help of Elma, a slightly-built elf mercenary he happens to encounter in the space station. And he may have just rescued another future crew member from thugs, too, as the episode ends. (A maid that’s presumably an android is also shown in the OP, but she hasn’t appeared yet.)

This light novel adaptation gets half a rating point just for having Elma, but that’s the only thing that stands out about it so far. This is really just a stock isekai tale, only with a full sci fi motif. Nothing about the sense of world-building (universe-building?) shown so far feels at all fresh, and while Hiro comes off a bit cockier than your typical isekai transplant, he’s pretty much a standard horndog about all of this. The action scene against the would-be pirates shows that we can expect a fair amount of action in this one, and Hiro looks like he will quickly collect a pseudo-harem, but I’ll need to see a bit more to determine if this one will be worth following long-term or not.

Uncle’s Obsession With Cute Things

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Mitsutaka Oji is a 41-year-old divorced businessman who lives with a nephew who is attending college nearby. He has a dark secret that he keeps from his coworkers and nephew, and which was a major contributing factor to his divorce: he loves cute things, in particular a roly-poly children’s anime character named Pugtaro. (To be clear, his ex-wife was upset over him keeping secrets and apparently never knew about the nature of it.) He’s practically paranoid about being found out given scorn he got as a boy for expressing such interest, and that fear is, to a degree, supported by the the stern, disagreeable head of a neighboring division at work who notices a cutesy character on his keychain. However, Mitsutaka soon discovers that the other division head has a barely-concealed vice of his own: his “oshi” is a kitten at a local cat café the other man frequents which Mitsutaka happened to check out in a quest for merch.

There’s definitely some humor to be found in the way the protagonist of this manga adaptation treats his cute obsession like many would a much darker and more lurid fetish, but frankly, I found Mitsutaka’s situation to be a bit sad in a way that probably wasn’t intended. Granted, professional Japanese men by default tend to be very image-conscious, but being so image-conscious that you have to conceal such a harmless interest is no way for a middle-aged man to live. Sure, one of his peers at work is a jerk about it, but he might well be surprised how favorably some of his younger coworkers respond if he unobtrusively let on that he had such interests. Because that aspect doesn’t set well with me, this series is probably a no-go for me in this busy season.

Ranma ½ s3 (ep 25)

Streams: Netflix on Saturdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Ranma and the gang are back for round 3! This time around Ranma’s intense training with Cologne at the end of last season has left him stronger than he realizes, as Kuno and Ryoga now look painfully slow to him. After being more soundly defeated by Ranma than ever before, Ryoga agrees to train with Cologne. Meanwhile, Akane volunteers to go along with Ranma and Genma on their summer break training excursion in the mountains and cook for them, utterly unaware of just how bad Akane’s cooking is.

It’s time for another round of the familiar antics! While the “epically bad cooking” gimmick has been done so many times in other comedy series over the years that it’s a cliche at this point, this is the rare case where exactly how Akane’s curry ends up so inedible is depicted in great detail; for anyone who regularly cooks, it’s truly horrific to watch. (Granted, curry is an enormously flexible recipe with many sound variations, but there are still standards that must be adhered to.) I’m giving this one a middling grade because, aside from Akane’s cooking demonstration, this is a very generic episode for series standard, but it does still offer its share of nicely-animated fun.

The Seven Knights of the Marronnier Kingdom

Streams: Amazon Prime on Saturdays

Rating: 3.5

The Marronier Kingdom lies at the center of its continent, surrounded on all sides by seven other kingdoms. And it just so happens that it has seven young knights that are all sons of the female general Baribari: Insomniac, Swordsman, Feverish, Fraternity, Best-Tamer, Chilly, and Hungry. (Yes, really.) Each is to eventually be dispatched as a Knight Commander on a diplomatic mission to one of the seven other kingdoms. Before that, though, each of them has other tasks to complete, including Chilly being assigned to escort a margrave’s son (really the nation’s princess in disguise) on a nut-gathering expedition for her pet super-massive squirrel. (Yes, really.)

The most startling thing about the first episode of this manga adaptation is the sheer size of the “squirrel” when it’s finally revealed at the end of the episode. The series also has one of the season’s most distinctive artistic styles, with all the background art and most of the character art looking like it came from a children’s picture book. As for what kind of tone it’s trying to set, that’s hard to say at this point. It’s certainly angling to be a more classically-styled medieval fable, though its odd naming conventions (all of the other country names are also thematic) is suggestive of some kind of satire or morality play, but I don’t think either is the intent here. It is a gentle, low-key episode which introduces all the main cast members, gives each a chance to show off his or her personality (there’s also an aspiring female knight who, if I’m understanding correctly, is going to eventually marry one of the eldest brothers). While the visual style is distinctive, I’m not a fan of it, and that ultimately may knock the series from my watch list. If you’re looking for something different on the visual style front, though, this one should fit the bill.

Magic Repo Man

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

In Lent’s world, everyone gets a god-given skill at age 15, one which typically determines a person’s career path. Lent hopes to get a Swordsman skill like one of his friends, but he instead get a unique skill of the highest tier: Magic Storage, which gives him a base MP level far beyond anyone else, allows him to bank additional MP, and loan MP to others. (Yeah, his name is that much on the nose!) It’s not a skill suited to fighting directly, but in a world where all powers and skills are dependent on MP, it means his back-line support allows others to function far beyond normal capabilities. A couple of friends from his village convince him to join them as adventurers so he can put that to good use, and together with a priestess they form the Skypiercers. Though the party quickly ascends the ranks, the lead Swordsman/Mage/Priest trio become discontent with Lent “only” contributing via supplying MP, and so when they finally obtain magic items that can reduced their dependence on his mana loans, they kick him out. But they may be in for a rude awakening, for Lent’s frustration over this triggers his skill to evolve.

Yeah, we’ve scenarios like this – where the vital support role is so disrespected and undervalued by the DPS-focused members that the supporter is kicked out- enough times before that there has to be some more novel twist involved for any new attempt to smell at all fresh, and this one doesn’t have it. The fellow party members are just stock irredeemably arrogant bastards who have completely lost track of the fact that they wouldn’t be the hot shit that they are without Lent’s help (although the priestess does go above and beyond to be irritating) and somehow are too dense to see how broken Lent’s ability is in this setting even in its current form. And it should be even more broken with his skill evolving and this fairy showing up; my guess is that he’ll be able to forcibly extract MP from others rather than just get it back from others willingly returning it. Is that an interesting enough angle to sustain this series? Probably not, though I may give it an episode or two to see how that plays out and if whatever new party he forms proves interesting enough. (And I am at least slightly curious about this shady-looking fairy.) It’s definitely the weakest premiere on this very busy day.

Even the Student Council Has Its Holes!

Streams: OceanVeil on Saturdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Mizunoe Ume excels at most things, but his atrocious grades in Science class put him in danger of having to repeat a year. To combat this (and help her earn her bonus!), his teacher suggests he takes up a vacancy in the Student Council. Ume reluctantly agrees and finds himself becoming the council’s Secretary, but he also quickly discovers that his fellow Student Council members are all quite the handful in different ways and administering Student Council duties sometimes requires dealing with some difficult people.

When I first saw the title of this gag manga adaptation, I assumed that the obvious double-entendre wasn’t intended, that it just referred to Ume filling the vacancy. Now I’m not so sure, as this is a far more dirty-minded series that initial impressions might suggest. It has bits of nudity, one character using nipple flashes to tease another, not one but two male characters convincingly dressed up as girls (including the nipple-flashing one!), and the one fully female character is a closet pervert. The episode even has one character using a pair of panties to clean up a bloodstain (never mind how many health code violations are involved there!), which implies obvious jokes about bloodied panties. As tasteless as some of this sounds, a lot of it is very funny, and the director wisely understood how to time the length of the jokes well. Sure, it has an artistic look that’s definitely not going to work for everyone, but even that somewhat plays into the humor. I can see this one being a lot of fun.

Magical Explorer

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Our unnamed protagonist was an avid player of the eroge Magical Explorer, to the point that he had careful notes about how best to do speedruns, so of course he finds himself in the game as one of its characters after he passes out one day. But instead of being the protagonist he’s Kosuke Takioto, the protagonist’s scarf-sporting sidekick. Resolving not to be the dead weight that his current character was, he decides to train up what he can do and works on using magic to manipulate his scarf. Perhaps because of that, he starts getting involved in incidents his character never did in the story, including being taken in by the school’s sexy (but untouchable in the game) headmaster and rescuing an elven princess who’s one of the story’s main love interests. He also finds himself cohabitating with a couple of other sexy female characters who were never love interest options in the game.

I will give this light novel adaptation some credit: it’s being a bit clever in how it’s using its eroge setting to put the protagonist in the kinds of sexy pratfall situations that have long been staples of the more lewd romantic comedies out there, such as the box of undergarments that accidentally dump on his head when he’s following the sexy green-haired maid up a staircase and she falls or tumbling naked into the sexy headmaster after fleeing from a bathroom he was somehow unaware was unoccupied. It even gets a good joke out of it when, after the last encounter, the headmaster’s adult daughter asks if he’s into older women and interested in becoming her new father. That’s some moxy to carry the joke that far. Unfortunately, there’s really nothing else special these opening two episodes (was a second episode really needed in this case?) do. Its fan service angle, though definitely present, isn’t even that strong, either. The female cast members introduced so far are appealing enough but, again, nothing special, and some faint hints about plot angles beyond the base story haven’t coalesced into anything substantial yet. I might watch a little more to see what happens when the game’s viewpoint character enters the picture but this is a dubious long-term choice for following at this point.

Vertex Force

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

13-year-old Okinawan resident Akira didn’t seem to inherit the Engine power (which allows the wielder to manifest a partial mecha, apparently) from his alien father like his 16-year-old sister Haruka did, but that hasn’t stopped him from striving to get stronger. Two weeks after an incident called Power Down disrupted power and communications across the globe (which may have been caused by a mysterious woman witnessed interfering with a satellite in space), the threat which Akira and Haruka’s father gave his life to protect Earth from 12 years before – the rogue robot EDVA, which destroyed his home planet – seems to have returned. During a desperate fight by Haruka to dend off a robotic monster which seems to be seeking them out, Akira awakens to his own engine power, at least to a degree.

While this has the air of a mobile game adaptation, it’s actually an entirely original series from the director of the Strike Witches franchise and the creator and director of Vividred Operation. That explains a lot about the first episode’s look and feel, especially the propensity for pervy angle shots of Haruka; Kazuhiro Takamura is notorious for populating his other titles with plentiful amounts of such fare, so expect it to be a regular feature here, too. It also explains why the other three yet-to-be-introduced Engine users shown in the OP and ED are all young women, because combining girls and pseudo-mecha is definitely Takamura’s MO. (Including one boy in the mix is a sign that Takamura is branching out some!) Beyond that, this is a very standard establishment episode. The animation effort leans heavily on CG even in character animation, but there’s nothing much which stands out about the elaborate mecha designs. Overall, this isn’t an impressive start, though I can see the series finding its own niche audience.

#I’m Looking for a Zombie

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

In Aki’s world, the zombie apocalypse (known as “Red Day”) happened 13 years earlier. She and her friends Haru and Natsuki were raised in an isolate village because of this, so they’re almost entirely familiar with the outside world. That doesn’t stop them from setting out with gusto for an exploration mission to find Aki’s father, who once asked her to find him and put him down if he ever turned into a zombie. As they get into a big city they’ve never seen before, they encounter Yu and Sakura, two survivors from a different village, and team up with them to deal with the horde of zombies that has cornered them in the miraculous “Home Center” they intend to adopt as their base of operations.

This one is based on a manga by a manga-ka who’s seen two previous works also adapted into anime: 2018’s Mitsuboshi Colors and 2019’s Hitori Bocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu. Both of those were more light-hearted, high-spirited series, and that same sentiment has now been applied to a zombie apocalypse scenario. While the circumstances could make this one quite dark, the first episode never plays it that way; even the one “gotcha” moment involving a zombie is approached with full zeal and Aki and friends just matter-of-factly talk about crushing zombie skulls. Relatively simple but lively character designs and personalities are all part of this, technical merits are pretty good, and the sense of energy is pervasive, especially in the English simuldub. (Notably, the English dub does use “they” pronouns for Yu, while the subtitles don’t, so this could be a point of controversy.) Overall, this one gives the impression of being a fun ride and has certainly earned another look.

Romelia War Chronicle

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Romelia von Graham is the daughter of a count who was betrothed to Prince Henri, but after accompanying him (in a purely supporting role) to defeat the Demon King, he calls their engagement off. Romelia isn’t about to let that drag her down, so she secures a comparatively modest reward from Henri’s father, arranges to see that her family’s financial woes are involved, and then decides to set out to form her own new life in a different land, with only her faithful older maid accompanying her.

This adaptation of a light novel series looks like one of these set-ups where the pragmatic, capable supporter is dumped because her noncombat contributions are undervalued, so she goes off to prove her worth on her own. In that sense this first episode doesn’t do anything fresh, though there is at least some hint that Prince Henri isn’t totally disenchanted with her and his father seems to recognize her value. Romelia takes this all in stride as she stakes out her merits as a capable negotiator, but she’s a bit too even-tempered about all of this, and it feels at times like some vital context is missing. Still, the adaptation gets at least some credit for depictions of subtleties (Romelia’s father never outright says it but he’s clearly genuinely concerned about her, but the distance between them at the dining table speaks volumes) and the artistic effort is solid, if unspectacular beyond the opening fight scene. I tend to like series focused on heroines like this, so I’m certainly willing to give this one a fair try.

A Tale of the Secret Saint

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

15-year-old Fia Ruud, youngest daughter of a knight family, has always dreamed of being a knight of the Nav Kingdom herself, even though she’s the weakest of her siblings and the service of her three elder siblings means she could do anything she wants without worry about maintaining family traditions. She decides to try her family’s Right of Passage anyway, and during it she has a fateful encounter with a badly-injured “black bird” which turns out to be the black dragon Zavilia, who regressed to a natal state to try to recuperate from injuries. The encounter awakens Fia’s memories of her previous life: three hundred years ago, she was Serafina, the Nav Kingdom’s princess and Great Saint, and the person chiefly responsible for the defeat of the Demon King at that time. Her brothers, miffed that she was too popular, abandoned her in a mana-depleted state and she was later found, humiliated, and killed by the Demon King’s surviving right-hand man, who promised to seek her out if she ever reincarnated. Terrified of that, Fia resolves to keep her former identity and the powers that she’s regained a secret. That won’t be easy, since she has magic miles beyond anything that Saints in her era have, now has the newest incarnation of the legendary Black Dragon (a “black dragon-like thingy”) as a familiar, and isn’t the sharpest of tools when it comes to concealing what she can do, as evidenced by how much attention she catches during her Knight Brigade test and induction.

The OP for this light novel adaptation indicates that the intent here is to adapt the first four novels. Even though these aren’t particularly long novels (and as much as a third of each is devoted to side stories and/or flashbacks), that still means a brisk pacing should be expected. That should be mostly fine, since this isn’t a deep or particularly intricate story, though I am curious to see how the side story content will be handled, since some of it is indispensible; the second episode of this two-episode debut does end with one such side story, so this could be a case where that structure will be a regular feature. The twist on the standard “same timeline reincarnation” premise – that the reincarnate doesn’t want to reveal her power because she fears the enemy who killed her in her past life is still around – is a refreshingly interesting one, and Fia has already shown herself to be ditzy enough that we can expect plenty of entertaining slips. Lots of hot guys who could potentially fall into Fia’s orbit are introduced, too, giving this some reverse-harem potential. On the artistic side, character designs generally look sharp and colorful (and I’m pleased that Fia is depicted wearing pants in her knight uniform) and animation isn’t spectacular but better than the minimalist effort I was expecting. (The gimmick of using 4:3 aspect ratio for the previous-life scenes is inspired, too.) Overall, I think this would be a keeper for me even if I wasn’t current on the English releases of the novel and manga versions.

FX Fighter Kurumi-Chan

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 3

Don’t let the cutesy, magical girl-themed OP or the emphasis on the bust size of the protagonist (and other characters featured in the OP and advertising art) fool you; the first episode of what looks to be a “cute girls do financial trading” series is shockingly grim. In her middle school years, Kurumi’s mother tried her hand at ForEx (i.e., foreign exchange) trading, with disastrous results. Despite a concerted effort to work to pay off the crushing debt, her mother ultimately couldn’t handle the stress, deteriorated steeply over the course of a few months, and eventually committed suicide. (And the artistic effort does not shirk on visually depicting the mother’s deterioration!) Though her mother warned Kurumi away from ever engaging in ForEx, Kurumi resolved after her mother’s death to succeed where her mother had failed once she was legally old enough to do so and put a lot of time into preparing for it. Despite that, her age 20 self is finding history repeating, even if she is operating for much lower stakes.

In my younger years, I dabbled a bit in futures trading (for wheat, IIRC). Those markets are nowhere near as volatile as foreign exchange markets are, and I was doing it at a lower volume (only a few hundred dollars), but even then the stress of whether or not the markets would turn favorably and the prospect of potentially losing my investment ultimately outweighed potential gains for me, so I didn’t stick with it. Getting into ForEx as an homage to her mother – to try to prove that she succeeded where her mother experience abysmal failure – doesn’t seem like the best way to cope, but that’s part of the point here, I think. Obviously the situation is a set-up for Kurumi to connect with other young female traders shown in the OP and previews at the end of the episode, and I can absolutely see this becoming a potentially interesting series if the first episode wasn’t at least a bit dishonest about its focus (it feels a bit fan servicey in some of its camera shots) and unclear about what the ultimate prevailing tone will be. The production merits are remarkably solid, so I’m left ambivalent enough about this one to reserve judgment on it until after episode 2.

Reincarnated as a Sword s2

Streams: HIDIVE on Wednesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

With surprisingly-good technical and artistic merits, an adorable female co-lead (Fran), and one of the best lead duos in its genre, the first season of this series stood among the most enjoyable and purely entertaining isekai of the past few years, even if it didn’t really do anything fresh structurally or in terms of setting. As a result, its return is my second most-anticipated title of the season (after only the return of The Apothecary Diaries). The first episode, while not spectacular, doesn’t do anything to suggest that any of the elements which made the first season a success are going to taper off.

The first episode basically goes back and explains in more detail what was going on with the very condensed epilogue of the first season. It introduces the shady-looking necromancer as Jean du Vix, who insists that he’s not an “evil” necromancer and seems to be the one that Amanda was referring to in episode 10 of season 1. He looks to be a regular cast member for at least the duration of the current arc, since he joins Fran and Teacher in their effort to get up to the sky island, which is home to a dungeon. Though Fran and Teacher were originally looking to go to a different dungeon, this one looks like a good opportunity to test their skills, especially after their failed stand-off against the skeleton knight guarding the island. It should also be the first time we’ve truly seen the duo fighting with someone else in a team effort, since even in the spider dungeon arc last season they were mostly fighting on their own even with others present. A “nameless” slave girl is also introduced and strongly hinted to be a future recurring character, too, though she hasn’t met Fran yet.

The heavy metal new OP leans heavily implies a darker and grittier tale, but given that the tone of the first episode hasn’t changed from the first season, that strikes more as a playful bit of deliberate pretentiousness once you’ve seen the episode. Technical merits are still up to a higher-than-normal standard, so we should continue to be in for a fun ride here.

As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, s3

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

If titles like Mushoku Tensei, Re:Zero, Saga of Tanya the Evil, and KONOSUBA make up the top tier of isekai series then this series’ first two seasons have been at or near the top of the second tier. Much like Re:Zero, protagonist Ars has a special ability but is hardly OP himself; he succeeds because he’s able to identify the most capable people and win their loyalty. Finding such individuals has been a major element of the first two seasons, and the first episode of the new season hasn’t forgotten that, as it showcase two new high-tier recruits who will likely become regulars: one a talented swordsman and the other a mage with potential only a step lower than Charlotte’s. However, that’s just part of the main focus, which is on Ars’ ascension to being the new headman of Canarre (as Couran promised him back in season 1). And one of his chief duties, aside from all of the paperwork, is to identify someone capable and trustworthy to administer Lamberg while everyone else is helping him run Canarre.

I haven’t liked everyone who has come into Ars’ orbit, but Zat Brozud, aside from having an awful name, looks promising as a straight man and Musia Trick (again, what’s with the names?) will likely fill the role of Inferiority Complex Girl and serve as a contrast to Charlotte. Not convinced the series needs that kind of role, but whatever. Since this is mostly an organizational episode, there aren’t any big moves, but it does at least maintain on the technical merits. Not one of the franchise’s stronger episode, but there’s nothing worrisome going on here, either.

A Wild Last Boss Appeared! s2

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Despite some generally weak character writing, the first season of this “trapped in a game” isekai succeeded partly because of solid visuals and world-building elements and partly because of the intriguing mysteries at its core which give it a more distinct plot than most OP protagonist isekai stories get. Yes, this isn’t the only game series where the protagonist appears in a world paralleling their game a couple of centuries after its peak (see also The New Gate and In the Land of Leadale, the latter of which probably originated this gimmick), and it’s not the only such series to have some mystery surrounding that point, but here it’s a more existential issue, and the much more original gimmick where the game character the protagonist is inhabiting may have been an independent individual the protagonist is merely possessing (or perhaps blending into?), and that this occurrence may be part of a plot by the game’s creation goddess, holds a lot of promise that will hopefully be explored more this season.

You won’t see much of that promise in the first episode back, though. It does get credit for opening with a brief summary of the first season (welcome, since the last episode aired nine months ago), but it mostly consists of Virgo joining Lufas’s party as the replacement Maiden and the group then traveling to a mobile dwarven city (yes, it looks like a space battleship, but it flies just above the surface) to try to pick up two more of the Twelve Heavenly Stars. But while one of them is an easy acquisition, the other may prove to be much harder to corral since she’s actively trying to attack the mobile city. Naturally some stupid antics perpetrated by the supporting cast ensue, and it certainly looks like Karkinos the Crab is firmly going to be part of those antics; his particular gimmick seems like it will be adoration taken to a romantic, flirtatious degree. That doesn’t seem likely to fix the ongoing problem of a poorly-developed supporting cast, but it should keep things lively. That’s enough for now, I guess. I am still invested enough here that I will almost certainly continue to follow this one.

Now That I Can Control Reality With A Mouse Cursor

Streams: OceanVeil on Sundays starting 10/4 (early preview 9/11)

Rating: 2.5 for ecchi content, 1.5 (of 5) overall

Ecchi/porn computer games where a player can click a mouse on various parts of a female character’s body in order to stimulate her (often to the point of orgasm and/or being willing to engage in sex) have been around for decades, but this adaptation of the ComicFesta manga Click Me All Over is taking this concept to the next level by making a 6½ minute anime series about it. In this case, nerdy Takumi has discovered that his computer mouse’s cursor can manifest outside of the computer in a way only he can see, so he decides to test it out on Mone, a childhood friend whom he’s grown apart from over time but still holds unrequited romantic/sexual interest in. (She’s grown into quite the sexy young woman.) Indeed, it does prove to do what he wants, and he’s able to use it to prod her into extreme arousal. But now he’s getting a game screen saying sex is an option?

Yeah, this is all as dumb and unsavory as it sounds, but it is at least a little titillating and does keep things simple. We may not see until episode 2 if this will go full hentai or just remain in the ecchi realm, but the ED (OP?) suggests that at least two more buxom girls will eventually be involved, too. Definitely think this one might be better experienced in marathon rather than weekly viewing, though.

The Lonely Snow Widow and the Cursed Ring

Streams: OceanVeil on Sundays starting 10/4 (early preview 9/11)

Rating: 3 (of 5)

In a modern world where various yokai races live alongside humans, Subaru has inherited management of a yokai-focused apartment building from his father. When he finds a ring which purports to help in communicating with yokai, he uses it on Mifuyu, a widowed yuki-onna whom he has something of a crush on but fears he’s made her angry. While he didn’t intend more than an apology, the ring’s effect on Mifuyu was much stronger than that, to the point that Subaru winds up having sex with her.

Yeah, unlike its other OceanVeil peer this season, this roughly 8 minute short is full-blown hentai and makes that abundantly clear before the first episode is out. The indication that the ring is merely enhancing a reaction rather than controlling the target makes this a bit less damning on the consent front but it’s still an edgy situation. The animation and visuals actually aren’t bad (though the protagonist’s eyes are conspicuously never shown), so this should serve as worthwhile hentai content for a viewer who prefers their women full-figured.

Summer 2026 Wrap-Up

Now that all of the Summer 2026 series I was following have (finally!) finished airing, let’s look at how they fared.

Because I ended up watching an ungodly number of series this season, not every title I followed is going to be covered here; the only ones listed are ones where I have changed my score since the Mid-Season Reports and/or have additional commentary to add. (Saga of Tanya the Evil is also not included here since it was fully covered in separate episode reviews.)

Titles from Mid-Season Report part 1 that are not covered here include Black Torch, Deamons of the Shadow Realm (beyond an acknowledgement that it’s getting more animation), From Overshadowed to Overpowered, I Became a Legend After My 10-Year-Long Last Stand, and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS: Gun Blaze Vengeance.

Titles from Mid-Season Report part 2 that are not covered here include Oh, Boy, Was I Wrong About Her; Skeleton Knight in Another World s2; and The Duke’s Son Claims He Won’t Love Me.

While there were a handful of series I at least half-intended to go back and finish as the season wound down, time constraints kept me from getting to them. Even so, this was another fairly strong season overall, with at least four titles that have a shot to make my Top 10 list for the year (all the ones with A- Overall grades) and several vying for seasonal Top 5 honors. You won’t see a “best of season” heading here, though, because that goes to Saga of Tanya the Evil s2 for its incredible treatment of military drama.

A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even

Overall Rating: C+

The main problem this series faced in the first half – the dichotomy between being a business-building series and a hard-core revenge series – only gets more extreme as the series progresses through its second half. While Elizabeth can’t be fully faulted for wanting to get revenge, she’s decided that all of Haldoria’s citizens deserves her vengeance, whether they’ve personally wronged her or not, and so she has (or at least seems to have) no qualms whatsoever about getting innocent citizens – even children! – killed as part of her schemes. Two of her most die-hard supporters, who actually know what she’s up to, voice concerns in one late scene about how far she’s going because she’s “too nice” a person at heart for this all not to weigh on her conscience, but there’s no evidence of that; she’s fully crossed the line into villainess territory, and she’s as fully personally OP as any other fantasy protagonist out there on top of that. By the end of the season I actually found myself rooting for Roselia, the noblewoman who’s trying to keep Haldoria together, counter Elizabeth’s plans, and handle the incompetent prince with proper scorn, and that’s not a good look for the series. Nothing about a sequel has been immediately announced, and based on what I’ve heard about the source material, I’m ambivalent on whether I would continue with this one if a sequel is made.

Ascendance of a Bookworm s4

Overall Rating: B

The second half of the series used brisk enough pacing that even I, as someone who’s not anywhere near this far into the novels, could tell that they were rushing things. The end of episode 24 makes it clear what the goal was: finish all the Part 3 content from the source novels and progress the story up to the point where Rosemyne will join the Royal Academy at age 10. The wisdom of this move will, I’m sure, long be debated and ultimately determined by how important the skipped-over details end up being, but if it’s a situation where a more relaxed pacing would have put this key transition point in the middle of another season then this was probably the right call, as it gives this double-cour season a proper dramatic finish. Amusingly, the last episode does explain why “Grandpa” isn’t allowed to be around Rosemyne (he doesn’t understand physical restraint!), and on the negative side, Ferdinand’s comment about how “a lot has happened” during Rosemyne’s unexpectedly-long jureve raises a lot of questions that aren’t getting answered here. The season has at least advanced the story by big jumps, though, and sets up for the animation of Part 4, which has been confirmed.

Clevatess II

Overall Rating: B+

While this hasn’t been quite as compelling a season as the first one was, there’s still a lot to like here. It’s still got arguably the best simuldub of the season, still has some great action pieces and a high overall level of artistic and animation quality, and it’s still got plenty of fun twists and character development for (obviously) Alicia and (less obviously) Clen. It also has quite the rousing climax to the whole “magical school” arc (I especially liked the outcome for the princess) and then follows it up with one hell of a season-ending cliffhanger. I’m more ambivalent about all these revelations about Toa, but nonetheless, they do provide an interesting “ancient history” for this setting. The nature of the cliffhanger means it will be absolutely criminal if it takes too long for a season 3 to come about, though I think the anime may be swiftly catching up to the source manga. We’ll see what develops.

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman s2

Overall Rating: B-

The first half of the series may have been placid overall, but the second half offers more substantial plot developments. While those developments aren’t especially fresh or complicated (clergy going down an evil path seems to be a recurring theme this season), they do provide plenty of opportunity for well-detailed action scenes, with the highlight being one of the best (and best-animated) examples of coordinated attacking you’ll see anywhere in anime when Beryl teams up with Rose in the climactic showdown and defeats the pope with observations and skill rather than overpowering moves. In a possibly even more significant development, Beryl is now showing signs that he’s not oblivious to Allucia’s clear romantic interest and seems to be at least considering her now. My biggest issue with the series (aside from very mediocre English dub) is that Allucia still looks too physically delicate for the role she’s playing, but I’d still welcome an opportunity to see if the hints of romance are going to go anywhere. Fortunately, this one’s substantial TV ratings in Japan have resulted in a third season already being greenlit.

Goodbye, Lara

Overall Rating: A-

The ending of this series may not have been the one that a lot of people were hoping for, but it absolutely feels like the right ending, and the one that the series was most strongly angling toward throughout its run in both thematic and storytelling senses. The last couple of episodes in particular featured powerhouse presentations (Grace’s backstory in episode 11, and its relevance to the current situation, hits harder than such late-game flashbacks normally do), but the second half of the series overall landed its dramatic impact as the competing viewpoints came into play; Lara’s sister Lisa in particular had very legitimate reasons for hating humans, as did her father, which made their viewpoints impossible to dismiss as mere racism, for instance. I also liked how the series emphasized the biological impact on Lake Biwa of what was going on with the merpeople. Though I never was fully a fan of the art style, the visual interpretation of it all – and especially the way it linked in other Hans Christian Anderson tales, especially The Swan Princess – was a winner, too, and the musical score also deserves kudos. On the whole, this is probably my #3 title for the season.

Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It!)

Overall Rating: B-

As much as I like this series, even this rating might be a bit of a stretch, as the series unfortunately remains a lower-echelon title on the technical and artistic fronts. The adaptation pacing smooths out considerably over the second half, though, and the story does feature some interesting plot developments as an additional isekai’d individual becomes active (though everyone is still unaware who else has been isekai’d, beyond Christopher and Anna-Marie being aware of each other). The angle the writing takes on how the game story is adjusting for the changes wrought by Melody (primarily), Christopher, and Anna-Marie remains the most interesting aspect, and the series is at its best when focusing on that. Luciana is also gradually starting to come into her own as a character who can now deal with at least some of her own problems. And while some yuri elements are suggested (I’m convinced that Anna-Marie is bi based on her stated preferences, and Luciana’s attachment to Melody at least borders on romantic), it’s not a focus and probably never will be. I’d love to see more of this one animated, as there are plenty of fun twists to come, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day

Overall Rating: B-

This series has some of the season’s prettiest character design work, remarkably robust animation for as low-key as the series often is, and individual scenes that can be either sublimely beautiful or terrifyingly bloody, depending on the situation. It also has some fairly strong emotional beats and incontrovertible yuri content, even if most of it isn’t explicitly romantic. (The focus cast members are only 14, after all.) And yet I can’t give this one a high rating overall because it doesn’t come together well in a structural sense. Taken in isolation, its final episode – which focuses on the most important side character finally coming to terms with the shocking death of her partner a few years earlier – is a fine bit of character writing which does, indeed, round out a story thread. But why is the series ending on that? It’s not the focus of the overall plotline, wasn’t an interim point that the story was building towards, and doesn’t even directly involve the central characters. Really, it feels like it should be taking place two-thirds of the way through the season rather than at the end. I’m less concerned that the series has still not at all explained the bigger picture because this is a more intimate tale, but a real sense of urgency is definitely lacking even as it wants viewers to appreciate that some real and horrible fighting is going on. Absent an immediately-following second season, this is one of the rockiest season-ending points I’ve seen for a series in quite some time.

Magilumiere Inc. s2

Overall Rating: B-

The season as a whole still suffers from lagging pacing through to the end, and the Kaii serving as the immediate threat over the last three episodes seems shockingly passive (it just sits around and does nothing while the magical girls and their support teams decide what to do), but the final few episodes are buoyed a bit by some of the season’s best character moments, especially the neat way that Kana starts to bond with AST ace Mei over their common past love for a particular anime magical girl. The staff at Magilumiere bulking up is also a plus, with Akane and Iroha serving well as skilled but not stiff veterans that occupy a balance point between Kana and Hitomi and Hibiki serving adequately as a competent trainee techie. The exact motives of one of the main antagonists seems unclear at this point, but that does at least position him to be a long-term threat. The English dub continues to have definite weak points, but there’s enough story threads going on here, and the corporate angle is interesting enough, to keep the series at least mildly interesting. I’ll be surprised if we don’t eventually get another season and I’ll probably be back for it if we do.

Mushoku Tensei s3

Overall Rating: B+

The season began with Eris, so it’s only fitting that it (or rather its first cour) ends with Eris, too, and in particular with her on a clear trajectory to reuniting with Rudeus. That certainly sets up a loaded encounter for next cour, as Rudeus makes both Roxy and Sylphie aware of it, but the most interesting aspect is what leads up to this: a visit from Rudeus’s future self, who levels some damning, game-changing revelations, among them that not reconciling with the girl whom he had long thought abandoned him would only contribute to a bad outcome. Yeah, this is still kinda-sorta a wish fulfillment scenario (he’ll soon have a harem of three!), but this series has at least done better than most harem scenarios at laying a reasonable groundwork for it: Rudeus initially encountered (and fell for) all three at different points in his life, each helped him in a time of crisis, and each was in turn helped by him. And from what Man-God says, it sounds like destiny is in play here, too. I have to downgrade this season a little because it dwelled a bit too long on emphasizing the comfortable life Rudeus has developed, but its technical merits are still strong, its world-building is still rich, its characterization is better than many give it credit for, it does still occasionally deliver some spectacle and keen practical issues (such as the matter with Nanahoshi’s health), and it finishes on its strongest episode. With the groundwork laid for meaty future prospects, there’s no reason not to look forward to the next cour.

Re: Zero s4

Overall Rating: B++

My one slight disappointment with this season is that it felt like it could have been a little shorter, and I’m not sure I completely followed what all is going on with Gluttony. Even so, it features a lot of strong character moments and some awesome (and impressively-animated) fight scenes; Ram’s duel with one incarnation of Gluttony in the next-to-last episode is now one of my favorite action scenes of the entire franchise, but both Julius and especially Emelia get ample opportunities to show off slick moves, too. (Making ice duplicates of Subaru to assist her in battle was an especially neat stunt in the last two episodes, particularly the scene where one of the dupes leaves behind a thumbs-up as it shatters.) The season’s final scene is also the most satisfying one in the franchise since Subaru made his pact with Beatrice back in season 2. Once again the franchise remind us why it is, at worst, among the best of all isekai franchises.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime s4

Overall Rating: B

The series sure took its time to bring events to a head, but it (mostly) doesn’t disappoint when it does. It also finally fully explains how Chloe, Shizu, Hinata, and Chronoa (the body in Luminus’s glass case) are all connected and what, precisely, Leon and Luminus have to do with it; the mystery behind the “Great Spirit” that helped Chloe stabilize her magic a couple of seasons ago is also finally answered. While I didn’t mind the use of the time travel gimmick to explain much of this (nothing here makes sense without that gimmick, honestly), one nitpick did bug me a lot: Luminus had been around for over a millennium, and yet she’s essentially never changes her style of dress? For that matter, no effort whatsoever was put into making the culture of 1,000 years past look any different than the modern era culture if Rimiru’s new inventions are discounted. That aside, this was a mostly satisfying resolution to this part of the story, and the series will be returning next year for its next installment.

The Cat and the Dragon

Overall Rating: A-

The most delightful sequel news of the season is that a second season of this wonderful series has been greenlit. The initial appeal of the series – that every episode endears the series to the viewer in a different way – does not fade one bit as the back half of the series progresses, and it even provides one of the season’s most poignant episodes in one where an old cat makes one last, sentimental tour of former haunts before passing on. It is, without question, my favorite title of the season and well-deserves to be considered among the season’s best, too.

The Forsaken Saintess and Her Foodie Roadtrip in Another World

Overall Rating: C+

This one doesn’t change its stripes at all despite arguably the Summer ’26 season’s biggest plot twist late in episode 10; it’s still a full-bore fantasy foodie adventure, for better or worse. However, that plot twist – the revelation that it’s actually a stealth “isekaied into an otome game” series, with the Smorgasbord members just being nameless NPCs in the game – is big enough to be worthy of mention here, as it calls for a reevaluation of everything in the series to date. (Pointedly, it also means that the denizens of the otome game summoned someone from outside of the game, which I believe is also a novel twist for the genre.) If this is going to have a big impact on the future plot, though, then it’s beyond this season, as the only impact it has here is that Rin’s presence changes the game fate of the Smorgasbord members (a truth which only one other person besides Rin – a reincarnate who’s more knowledgeable about the setting – is privy to). Despite that twist, it remains a low-key, light-hearted romp. I’ll probably watch more if a second season is made, as I’m curious to see where this twist might go, but it’s not something I will be eagerly anticipating.

The Frontier Lord Begins With Zero Subjects

Overall Rating: B-

The second half of this one progresses in mostly predictable fashion, with Dias and Alna continuing to collect new recruits (including some human ones!) and having a bit of conflict with some royals who continue to seek to drag Dias into the kingdom’s succession conflict. But one of the advantages to Dias being so good-natured is having allies eager to support him, and that includes the king. (And whatever mysterious being the sheeplike creatures are answering to, apparently.) Not so thrilled about an utterly stereotypical trans character popping up later, and the quality control on the artistry does slip at times, but overall the series has settled into being a fine little civilization-building tale somewhat in the spirit of Farming Life in Another World. And if that one got a sequel then I think there’s a fair chance this one eventually will, too.

The Oblivious Saint Can’t Contain Her Power

Overall Rating: C+

There are two series this season where an overbearing sister must deal with a fit of jealousy when she’s eventually outshone by the deprecated sister/protagonist, and they resolve that matter entirely differently. This is the one with the more positive resolution, and it earns points for how it handles that. It also earns points for Carolina becoming a stronger and more confident character in the end (even if she does still sometimes need a bit of a push) and for not dragging out the resolution of the succession issue. On the downside, it’s still hampered by a lackluster technical effort, though its setting and costuming choices aren’t bad. While I’m sure more can be done with the concept, the series ends on a strong enough stopping point that additional animation doesn’t feel needed.

The Ogre’s Bride

Overall Rating: C+

This is one that I really feel I shouldn’t like for a number of reasons, and yet I found it oddly fascinating enough to rewatch most of it. It’s the counterpart to Oblivious Saint in that it shows the Bad End for the jealous sister; really, Karin should be grateful that she just ended up exiled, cut off financially, and separated from her love rather than as a bloody splatter for pulling that push-down-the-staircase stunt. And gods, but the parents are over-the-top pieces of work, too! At least Karin is somewhat understandable as the brat so spoiled she never learned to cope with jealousy. The series’ end does leave some potentially interesting setting angles to explore, such as what are the long-term consequences on a demon who gets forcibly separated from his bride. (And what does it say about Yota that he doesn’t go rogue to stay with Karin, given how powerful the bride attraction factor seems to be?) That there would be any doubt about Yuzu given how obviously more powerful Reiya is since encountering her did bug me, since it felt like the series was trying to play the “commoner among nobles” card even though there are special circumstances in this setting that should override that; this isn’t just a case of the heir falling head over heals for a commoner girl, after all.

On the negative side, Yuzu is still much too passive for my liking; she does have one moment where she somewhat stands up for herself against Karin in the penultimate episode, but this one is still much more interested in seeing the heroine go giddy over a hot guy than giving her much agency. It does earn some points for the unexpectedly cute way that potential rival Sakurako’s situation is resolved, though (unlike with Karin, she and Yuzu clearly won’t be enemies in the long run!), and the technical and artistic merits are generally a step up over Oblivious Saint. Still can’t give this one a high rating, but it’s at least not a total trash-heap title, and it leaves enough room for potential additional story threads (the point that a bride is a potential major asset but also point of vulnerability for a demon could be explored much more) that I could see more eventually being animated. I would at least consider returning for it.

Season Runner-Up: Though I Am an Inept Villainess

Overall Rating: A-

These first 11 episodes are just the first half of the series, which means that its January ’27 return will make it one of the most-anticipated titles of that season for me. The sharp impression it made in its middle episodes fully carried through the rest of the season, turning this into a fantastically fun view. Reirin continues to shine in Keigetsu’s body, and Keigetsu becomes a surprisingly sympathetic character by the end as she gets dragged by Reirin (sometimes literally!) into becoming friends, though how that happens actually makes sense, too. Really, considering how vibrant she is and how thoroughly she takes charge of the situation at the end (even Gyomei ultimately concedes to her wishes), Reirin may be one of the season’s best characters, and that’s not something I expected to say early on in the series. (Let’s not forget how utterly unfazed she is by bugs, either.) The web of intrigues and how they trapped characters into vicious cycles that, in some cases, last for decades was also fascinating to watch play out, mirroring some developments also seen in season 2 of The Apothecary Diaries. With higher-end artistic and technical merits supporting it, this was easily one of the season’s best-looking series, and it ends with solid hooks for its second half.

The Apothecary Diaries episode 49

Episode Rating: A-

The whole plot of the Shi family may be over but the consequences of it aren’t, a fact which hangs over the story as it progresses into its post-Inner Palace era with the beginning of season 3. Little reminders of it are everywhere in this episode even as it starts to set up for new plotline that, at least initially, does not appear at all related to what’s transpired before.

Or is it? While the last two episodes of last season resolved a lot of things, there’s still at least one significant loose end: the special envoys from the West. One of them was certainly present at the Fox Village and almost certainly involved with the feifa design being present there, and nothing in last season’s denouement mentions anything about them, which raises the question of whether imperial official are even aware they were there. (Maomao is the only one who would recognize them, and it would not at all surprise me if it slipped her mind to mention that.) And now there’s a potential new trouble brewing in the West, trouble which the note Loulan handed to Jinshi back in episode 47 seems to refer to. Even if that trouble is a natural hazard, that seems too much to be coincidence.

That trouble is definitely not trivial, either. While most people raised in the States or Europe probably know about plagues of locusts from a certain Biblical story, such a phenomenon has been a scourge throughout the world for all of recorded history, and it’s one that, combined with the drought we see evidence of at the beginning of this episode, can have a catastrophic effect on an entire region or nation if a country isn’t fully prepared to deal with it. (Look up the locust swarm which struck the central U.S. in 1874, which played a big role in the establishment of federal government financial assistance for natural disasters.)

Fortunately, Jinshi has been tipped off to this by Loulan, and Maomao is getting whiffs of it from encounters with individuals familiar with eating locusts. (For sake of clarity here, locusts are specific types of grasshoppers, so the two are neither synonymous nor entirely unrelated insects.) Both of those have connections to a scene back in episode 43 which seemed innocuous at the time: the scene where Shisui was eating fried locusts on a stick and spat one out because it was just a grasshopper (and thus not as tasty) instead. Even earlier, she also mentioned to Maomao on the walk to the shrine that there seemed to be more grasshoppers about than normal, an observation that now doesn’t look so casual. Shisui was also shown having a clear passion for insects, and now we find out that books from Maomao’s apothecary predecessor at the fortress are starting to pop up on the resale market. Doubtless Shisui read those at some point, so she may have known what signs to watch out for. An evidence-based warning about an impending locust swarm could very well have been worthy of use as a bargaining chip.

The destruction which can be wreaked by a plague of locusts is bad enough even without a drought to compound it, but both Jinshi and Maomao rightly realize that the timing here is especially bad. A plague of locusts being perceived as divine punishment has deep roots in many past cultures, and the Empire did just excise one of its most prominent clans with wholesale executions. It’s not at all hard to understand how a superstitious public which isn’t privy to the details about what the Shi clan was doing could perceive an event like that as punishment for the emperor being too ruthless. In other words, this is quite a worthy crisis to base an expansive plotline on.

The episode also brings up other little details which could prove important later. Doubtless the discontent among some officials about how Gyokuyou’s father is rising in prominence with his daughter becoming the new empress will come into play later on, and the Emperor’s shrewdness here can’t be forgotten; given the comments here about Gyokuyou becoming the empress has strategic impact for forging closer ties to western lands, one has to wonder how genuine his favoritism for Gyokuyou is. Doesn’t feel like the story is done with the convenience that Maomao’s guard from the fortress turns out to be the seller of the book, either (that he would recognize the boy now call Chou-ou is certainly an inconvenience!), and we of course can’t forget the mysterious young woman who briefly pops up in the West scene. The new OP also strongly suggests that Lishu is going to have a meaningful role to play this season, though how isn’t more than barely hinted at here, and that only in a scene which shows Lishu’s father seemingly being dismissive of her.

It’s all the little details like this which can make this story so great even when it’s just primarily doing set-up for the broader seasonal arcs. The artistic quality hasn’t dropped off at all, either. I couldn’t be more pleased that this series is back for another run and look forward to seeing where it all goes.

Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 12 (season finale)

Episode Rating: A

Overall Series Rating: A-

Compared to its first season, OVA, and movie, this season of Saga of Tanya the Evil has had a remarkably low military action quotient. Granted, it hasn’t really needed it since it’s (capably) leaned much more heavy into its philosophical and military drama angles, but that is part of the franchise’s foundation, so its production team would be remiss if it didn’t end the season with its biggest action blowout of the season (and maybe the franchise to date). That’s exactly what we get, although the writing doesn’t neglect to throw in a big twist or two as well.

That the attempted assassination of Rudersdorf was somehow going to intersect with the Allies’ goal of attempting to take Rudersdorf out was practically a given after what played out last episode, but I was definitely curious to see how Tanya would play it when confronted with the situation. Turns out she handled it just like everything else: fight like a demon to give the appearance that she’s actually doing her job but then try to use the circumstances to her advantage. She’s also always been careful to try to organize events (or at least her thoughts) in such a manner that she has at least some degree of moral or legal justification for her actions. (Whether we would see it that way or not isn’t a concern.) She’s too much of a pragmatist to let morality actually get in her way, but if she can lay the dirtiest work off on someone else, she will. In that regard the Federation forces showing up are practically a godsend, as it allows her a way to accomplish her objective without having to (literally!) press the button herself. The trick, of course, is to actually survive the experience while making it look like she hasn’t shirked.

I don’t think anyone who witnessed that chaotic battle and survived is going to question that Tanya went all-out. Faced with the two strongest foes she’s encountered, she couldn’t just overpower the enemy like in most fights; she had to resort to cleverness and tenacity to draw the single-minded Mary into oxygen deprivation and bait the over-equipped Mikel into underestimating her. And knowing that Mary would be obsessively gunning for her, she could set up the shot she actually wanted by making it look like she was doing her darnedest to shield the plane. It was a very risky ploy, but Tanya showed way back in episode 2 that she could pull a stunt like this off, and it worked. Rudersdorf’s plane is obliterated, and no one’s the wiser that it was actually the original intent.

But for as great as the battle sequence was (especially in the design and flow for how the three-dimensional fight played out), the other aspects were just as important. Rudersdorf demonstrated that he understood his longtime friend Zettour all too well: they had come to an intractable impasse over the war, and he knew that Zettour might see no recourse but to eliminate him. In fact, he was even half-expecting it, and only the utterly coincidental appearance of the Allied and Federation forces convinced him otherwise. His remark that he felt more comfortable being targeted by the enemy than a friend was interesting, but completely in character; he always seemed to prefer to approach his problems head-on.

Zettour’s behavior in the end may seem a contradiction to the plan he stated to Tanya – about seeking an exit – but it actually isn’t if you consider one key statement he made to Rudersdorf last episode:

“We got them interested enough that they’re willing to give us conditions. Then, if we both lose another million, no, ten million lives, even the stupidest of them will be willing to talk.“

While that sounded like hyperbole at the time, Zettour seems to have decided that the only exit strategy which doesn’t result in the Empire’s destruction is to make continuing the war so catastrophically bloody that neither side is going to reject negotiating to end it, and he’s fully ready to take the fall to make that happen. (Something to that effect is likely what he told the Emperor.) That’s a pretty twisted strategy, and one that’s going to leave him painted as a villain for eternity if his true motives aren’t understood, but it’s not the nihilistic bent that we often see from villains, and that’s what makes it interesting.

Pair all of this with high artistic, technical, and musical merits and we have the series’ second season ending with one of its strongest entries. With this episode factored is, this series is my Best of Season pick and a strong candidate to make my Top 10 list for the year.

Crunchyroll Sneak Peak – Fall 2026

On Monday 9/21 Crunchyroll offered up a sneak peek at five series that will either return (in one case) or debut (in the other four cases) during the Fall 2026 anime season. Each was presented back-to-back with only a brief introduction in between, and the whole thing was preceded by a Bananya Halloween special that I believe may also have been a debut. Each episode was presented in “not entirely finished” form, which means that OP and ED (if present at all in the first episode) for each was not included.

The following entries detail each debut and will replace the Preview Guide entries I would normally do for these series.

Black Clover s2

Will Stream: Saturdays starting 10/3

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

After 5½ years off, Black Clover is finally back! After a very brief recap, it continues right where episode 170 of the first series left off, so a review of the last few episodes before continuing with this one is strongly recommended; if you don’t remember who Nachht is in particular, then that review is essential. Asta has to train to learn how to draw out the full power of his devil counterpart now that he’s met and come to terms with Liebe, and that’s going to make him late for the big mostly-Captains raid party into the Spade Kingdom to retrieve Yami and Vengeance and stop the devil-summoning ritual the Dark Triad is conducting. That means that a lot of very powerful people are soon going to be getting in some epic-level battles.

Black Clover often looked a bit above average as shonen action shows go, and its return suggests that its technical side is going to be running full-tilt from the start. While the story doesn’t promise anything particularly fresh or original in a plot sense for its genre, it has enough dynamic characters and showy powers to still be a satisfying actioner. My one concern is that the power scaling shown here all but assures that we won’t see much (if anything) of the rest of the Black Bulls in action anytime soon.

Firefly Wedding

Will Stream: Fridays starting 10/9

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)

Satoko is the proper and dutiful daughter of a prominent nobleman, but she also has a heart condition which has always left her with a weak constitution and, if the doctors are to be believed, a limited lifespan. While she wishes to put her father at ease by marrying well, she’s also determined to make sure that any prospective partner knows what he’s getting into with her health, which she knows may limit her options. But a prospective husband may come from the most unlikely of sources. When she’s kidnapped while visiting a market, the man assigned to kill her at an appointed hour, one Shinpei, turns out to be a frightful, legendary killer, but he also goes to great – even bloody – lengths to stick to his assignment that she shouldn’t be molested before then. When he asks her what she can offer in exchange for sparing her at her pleading, she summons her courage and offers to marry him – and proves to him that she has the resolve to see it through.

This one is based on a romance manga, but it is almost certainly one of the bloodiest and most graphically violent openings to a romance series you’ll ever see. It’s also a spectacular opening, with a real chance to be a major crossover hit. Satoko may be (rightly) terrified of Shinpei, but she’s also a young woman of great resolve, one who won’t take any guff from a bratty younger stepsister and musters up the courage to follow through on a desperate gambit with a man who’s certainly strong but seems to be going out of his way to terrify her. After a season where the most prominent leading ladies in romance stories were very passive, Satoko is a breath of fresh air, and I’m very curious to see how Shinpei responds to the wonderful final scene. Kudos also to director Takahhiro Kamei (the new Urusei Yatsura) and script writer Yuko Kakihara (The Apothecary Diaries) for a flawlessly-paced opener. I should caution that it does contain an attempted rape scene, but if you can handle that and slasher film-level graphic content then check it out; it will be one of my keepers for the season.

Overgeared

Will Stream: Fridays starting 10/2 (early debut on 9/27)

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Grid, an avid VR game player, is going nowhere in life. He’s buried in debt, his family worries about his prospects, and he’s not even doing impressively in Satisfy, his favorite VR online game. When an item that grants him a legendary class falls into his hands, things are looking up, but getting the new class also resets his level to 1, and in this game, dying in a high-ranked mission means a -2 level loss, so before long he’s at level -3. He’s unaware that this gives him an unheard-of opportunity (since he’s starting from -3, he’ll be much stronger than any other level 1 when he finally gets back up to that point) and his new class just might give him some new perks, too. In a setting where game status can translate into real-world success, this could be a life-changing opportunity if he can just dig himself out of this level hole.

This one adapts a manwha and is a fairly blatant Solo Leveling wannabe, though it doesn’t takes itself anywhere near as seriously. The first episode doesn’t suggest that it will offer anything beyond a fairly standard “guy gets game-breaking abilities” story, and despite some flashy magical effects it’s nothing too special on the artistic or animation fronts, either. With generally average technical merits, the only things which distinguishes it so far is its somewhat lighter tone. Not a disaster, but nothing it’s shown so far is memorable.

Psyren

Will Stream: Mondays starting 10/5

Rating: 3 (of 5)

In this adaptation of a long-finished Shonen Jump manga, high schooler Ageha Yoshina is an ethical problem solver for pay, but in general he finds the world boring and short on long-term prospects. He takes an interest in classmate Sakurako when she pleads for his help right before disappearing and suspects that she may have become involved with a mysterious urban legend called Psyren. He has obtained a red phone card with that name, and when he starts to seek out its truth, a couple of thugs approach him. In trying to find his way out of that confrontation, he gets whisked away to another world where he finds the long-missing Sakurako.

An anime adaptation of this death game-type series has long been pined for by fans of the manga, so this is one of the more anticipated titles of the season. It’s not bad as shonen openers go, and it does establish its protagonist and central gimmick well enough, but it doesn’t do anything special or have a gimmick that’s anywhere near fresh. I may give this one more episode because I don’t feel like the first episode shows the full extent of the premise, but so far it’s not looking like anything special.

The Vermilion Mask

Will Stream: Saturdays beginning 10/10

Rating: 3 (of 5)

In a land where masks that can fuse with a person’s face and grant special powers are a reality, Peru d’Arrest is the former apprentice of the world’s foremost mask maker. A calamity which involved the most powerful of those masks going out of control has led Peru to travel the land, hunting down and destroying his former master’s masks so something like that can’t happen again. Naturally, some of the current mask owners are going to be resistant to that, as Peru finds out when faced with a usurper king who’s recognized as the land’s strongest warrior. But then that troublesome mask he’s been carrying around, unable to destroy, falls into the desperate hands of a girl who’s a fallen princess. . .

This one’s another shonen action manga adaptation, and honestly, the first episode doesn’t show much which suggests that it’s going to be able to break out of the pack in anime form. The concept of gaining powers that can be changed out from the masks is somewhat clever, the girl winding up using the dangerous mask instead of the protagonist is a neat (if predictable) twist, and a fair amount of supernatural action play is offered up, so the series has at least a chance to make something of itself, but I’m not feeling a particularly strong hook here; even the guilt Peru feels over what happened with his master isn’t all that unusual for the genre. (It somewhat mirrors Coco’s situation in Witch Hat Atelier, for instance.) Might be worth watching a second episode since the first one ends on a cliffhanger, but it’s going to have to fight to earn attention in what could be another busy season.

Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 11

Episode Rating: A

With its penultimate episode for this season, Saga of Tanya the Evil continues to blend in more elements from World War 2, and it uses those to help steer the story towards the painful inevitability it’s been facing towards for several episodes now: extreme measures are going to have to be taken in order to give the Empire an exit from this war, and that means that a major character is probably going to have to die – even if that means him being killed by a longtime friend.

The first WW2 incident being mixed in here is the Doolittle Raid. (For those who don’t remember it from history class, it was the first American air raid on Japan during WW2, taking place on April 18th, 1942.) Though that incident happened in the Pacific, many of the characteristics shown and described for the bombing incident in the Imperial capital more resemble that event than any actual bombing raid on Berlin, including the relatively light damage and how it wasn’t detected. Even the conversations in the one scene featuring Federation forces is a clear reference to the concept of shuttle bombing (i.e., bombing runs which start and end at different airbases), which was introduced to military tactics by the Doolittle Raid.

The second and more important allusion is to the infamous Operation Valkyrie, the secret plot by top German military officers to kill Hitler, seize control of the government, and end the war earlier rather than fighting out to the bitter end. This series is much more heavily modifying the circumstances in this case: rather than take over the government by removing the civilian leader, the conspirators are going to take out a top general committed to more fighting and use his death (and the supposed scheme he was pursuing) to purge the military “legally,” thus allowing them to direct the winding down of the war. And rather than use a briefcase bomb, the target is going to be shot down while flying. In other words, the ultimate goal hasn’t changed, but how it’s going to be achieved is.

Even ignoring the historical allusions, that Zettour is the one who came up with the idea of assassinating Rudersdorf is actually not surprising. He’s always been the more pragmatic one of the duo, and while he respects things like military honor and national pride to a degree, he’s always focused more on practicalities than emotions, even going as far as to use himself as bait. That he would call upon Tanya to do the dirty work is also part of that pragmatism: he knows she’s skilled enough, not averse to using extreme tactics, and well capable of appreciating the Big Picture, too. Was he surprised that she actually suggested improvements on his plan? And does he, perhaps, feel like he’s just made a deal with the devil? (He did say he felt he’d be going to hell, but his expression in the screen shot below suggests that he may be taking Tanya’s nickname of “The Devil of the Rhine” more to heart than ever before.)

What I find most interesting about all of this is that none of it is from Tanya’s perspective. After only minimally seeing her viewpoint last episode, we see none of it here, only an outside look at her from Zettour’s viewpoint. Who wouldn’t look at Tanya’s behavior as villainous based on this episode alone? Of course, anyone who’s watched earlier episodes knows that Tanya is purely doing this in service of her own interests, rather than as part of a grand evil scheme, but that makes her statements and intent here all the more credible, too. I’ve become convinced over the course of both seasons that part of the point to Tanya’s portrayal in the anime version is to show how callous, selfish pragmatism can easily seem like true villainy, and this episode illustrates that particularly well.

In all, this is an episode which gives this series further separation from most other anime titles out there. Its grand strategic machinations, motivations borne more of sheer survival than aggressive intent, and careful control of tone and perspective without being needlessly dramatic all contribute to a potent and impactful story. We’re now beyond the point where I’ve read the source material, so I am eager to see what kind of stopping point the series comes to next week.

Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 10

Episode Rating: A

Episode 10 is aptly named “A Way to Survive,” as that statement perfectly encapsulates the goal here: both the military and apparently now even the politicians are looking for a way for the Empire to come out of this war intact. Key figures in the military have long recognized that the war isn’t winnable in the way that the populace (and, by extension, politicians) want, and based on the fact that new Foreign Affairs diplomat, Counselor Konrad, is asking for a blunt assessment of the war situation from Rerugen and Tanya, it seems that there’s been enough upheaval in the ministries to open their eyes to the truth of the situation, too. This presents an opportunity, if the Empire has the guts and wherewithal to weather possible public criticism and humiliation and accept it.

But in their efforts to find a way to make a reasonable peace proposal, the Empire personnel have overlooked one very big factor, and it’s one that Tanya in particular should have caught since she raised it herself a couple of years earlier in the story: the matter of perception. Tanya based her argument that the Empire could eventually get involved in a world war on the premise that the Empire looks strong, and that strength worries other nations enough that they would band together to limit the Empire. That ultimately proved true, but neither Tanya nor, apparently, anyone else in the Empire considered that this fear could ultimately apply to the peace process as well. The very act of presenting a strong front in order to force reasonable terms from their enemies is, ironically, counter-productive because the Allied forces aren’t about to accept the continuing existence of an Empire which proves that it can dominate the continent.

The Empire is also a victim of its own short-sightedness here. Its leadership was so certain that their war effort was justified – after all, they were invaded first and all of the other countries technically took the initiative against them – that they never stopped to consider that the other countries might see things the same way they did: that such great cost had been put into the war effort that they had to get something out of it. Yes, their “Even though we crossed the border first, you took the first shot” justification for claiming that the Empire is the aggressor here is shaky at best (any neutral reading of the border incursion back in s1 episode 2 would classify that as an act of hostile intent), but that really doesn’t matter. Those other countries are beholden to their populaces, too, and they’ve sold this war on the Empire being the enemy aggressors who want to rule the world. They can’t settle for anything less than reparations (which would serve the dual purpose of limiting the Empire) for the same reasons that the Empire believed that it had to insist on them. Both the Empire and Rerugen in particular are utterly unprepared for this, and so Rerugen gets caught more flat-footed than he ever has before when Calandro reacts with shock that the Empire isn’t considering that or territorial concessions.

The scene where Calandro’s shaking in surprise is animated and Rerugen’s eyes are shown darting back and forth when Calandro brings this up is a great bit of visual adaptation. In fact, while there’s nothing particularly flashy about the visuals in this episode, this may be some of the finest work of the second season in terms of using visuals and foreboding music to portray the grim tension of the situation. Even Tanya merely brewing coffer carries ominous weight, especially when the nutcracker innocuously shows up everywhere.

Is there another series this season which is doing even close to this good a job at looking at the Big Picture and how all the various smaller components play into it? If so, I must not be watching it. This is powerfully compelling stuff, and I’m eager to see what stopping point the series will find to end with.

English Dub Update: Apparently the English dub being released for the OVA episode last week was a precursor to the dub for season 2 beginning this week. Nearly all voice actors for returning characters are back, with one exception: Mark Stoddard is no longer voicing Zettour. He has been replaced in the role by long-time veteran Jason Douglas. Mr. Douglas is a fine actor who’s done great work in other series (he was great as Heiter in Frieren, for instance), but based on the one line he has in the first episode, I am concerned about how well his voice fits the role, and it certainly seems like he’ll take a different vocal approach than Stoddard did. We’ll have a better idea on the fit in upcoming episodes, where Zettour has a much bigger role.

Review: cocoon – One Summer of Girlhood

The movie version of Machiko Kyo’s incredibly harsh source manga opens with a disclaimer that this is a fictionalized account, though it is based on true events. In the documentary which follows the movie (which is only a bit over an hour long) in its theatrical run, director Toko Ina mentions that the intent of the anime adaptation is to make it a more timeless story, and thus more accessible even to modern teenagers, by toning down period-specific elements. While the movie does, in a way, succeed at that, even a viewer who isn’t well-versed in history is going to recognize this as probably being set during World War 2. Those who are versed in the Battle of Okinawa during that war are going to recognize that this is clearly about the infamous Himeyuri students, a group of 240 female students and teachers essentially conscripted to work in field hospitals and munitions transportation in support of the Japanese defense of the island; they were left to fend for themselves when the defense effort turned dire, resulting in only 11 students and two teachers surviving the battle. Whether dodging the direct reference is a deliberate cop-out to avoid confronting this dark episode in Japanese history or merely a side effect of the director’s choice to focus on characters and themes instead is debatable.

The events in the movie closely mirror much of what happened with the Himeyuri students, but that’s the framing device rather than the focus of the story. That instead falls on San, a somewhat timid and very empathetic girl who, along with close friend Mayu and her classmates, finds herself building fortifications rather than studying. There are dangers to be watched for – they have to be constantly vigilant for air raids – but their lives are are initially still casual enough to even do things like celebrates birthdays. And while they’re not thrilled about helping with soldiers in a hospital, they’re not too concerned about it, either. Then they discover that the field hospital is in a cave, and not long after that the bomb drops – literally.

The incident which transitions the story from its more relaxed first third into its more intense second third is jarring in both dramatic and tonal shift senses, and that’s far from the last time the movie can make you shift uncomfortably in your seat. The extreme graphic content of the source manga (especially in portraying the injuries of the soldiers and the kinds of things the girls are assisting with in the field hospital) is dramatically softened, and that the girls may have been subjected to sexual assaults by their own soldiers is only vaguely implied. Toning both elements down so much is going to be controversial, as it is a disservice to the historical figures this story is based on, but it does at least support the director’s “accessibility” goal (for better or worse). Besides, intuiting what those scenes were meant to suggest isn’t hard; I wasn’t aware of the Himeyuri girls before seeing the movie and I still had little doubt about what two certain scenes meant even if they weren’t framed in a sexual fashion.

The most devastating part of the movie is its third act, however, where San, Mayu, and most of their classmates are released to fend for themselves. This is also where the movie’s most interesting visual choices land. When the girls come under fire (here it feels like they’re being specifically targeted, whereas in the actual history they were commonly caught in crossfires), we don’t even see the soldiers doing the shooting until near the very end. Ultimately, who the shooters are doesn’t matter because the girls are still getting gunned down, but whereas blood was shown earlier on, here the blood and viscera manifest in the form of flower petals (much like the fluff in SHIBOYUGI) because of a “spell” Mayu put on San to shield her from the worst of what was going on. This makes for a stunning visual impression which loses almost nothing for impact against seeing actual blood. And the circumstance under which San does start seeing actual blood again carries considerable weight because of what it means. Other incidents, like the group of girls seeking to blow themselves up with a grenade because they fear what the enemy troops might do (based on what their soldiers said), are also based on actual history.

But for all of the harshness even of this late content, the movie never loses track of the theme embodied in its title. San is fascinated by the life cycle of silkworms even as she’s horrified that the silk is gained by boiling the cocooned worms alive, and especially by how they can’t fly even though they have wings because the ability to fly has been bred out of them by humans. This becomes a metaphor for her progression throughout the movie. She is the silkworm, and if she’s going to survive then she’s going to have to burst out of her cocoon. The moment where that happens comes with little fanfare but still delivers a wallop, as like the silkworm, she’s completely different when she finally bursts out. It’s easily the movie’s most compelling character moment. The situation with Mayu’s real identity – which is more implied than fully revealed – isn’t handled as smoothly (viewers may have suspicions about it from early on) and isn’t as satisfying on its reveal, but it still carries some dramatic weight.

The visual effort is suffused with some clear Studio Ghibli influences, especially in the lovely way it depicts background art. The limitations of having originally been a made-for-TV movie show more in the characters, which are hampered by simpler designs and less-than-perfect consistency on modeling (though they are nowhere near as simple as in the original manga). The sense of movement provided by the animation is still much more evident than in a typical TV series, though, though, and the impression made by the aforementioned highlight visuals still lands. Kensuke Ushio (Chainsaw Man, DAN DA DAN, Journal with Witch) provides a musical score which may be the movie’s strongest production element, as the care and thought he put into why each scene needs to sound the way it does is evident even if you don’t watch the accompanying documentary footage (which focuses on him).

While the end of the movie suitably completes the theme (San may not have been able to fly away, but she did survive), I also felt it was a missed opportunity to make an even stronger statement; it’s my understanding that the manga version ended with San in a POW camp rather than in what looks like a post-war village, and keeping that would have made more impact because of the irony that she was treated better there than she was by her own countrymen. But, admittedly, that irony also would have distracted from the thematic focus.

Overall, you should not let the movie’s first third lull you, as it almost did with me; even in its toned down version, the movie isn’t at all a light view in the end. Even if it being a consequential look at a dark corner of history wasn’t its focus, the thematic emphasis doesn’t prevent it from accomplishing that.

Overall Rating: B+

Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 9

Rating: A-

Few anime series can pull off drastic tonal shifts as smoothly as this one can, and the episode “Sightseeing Tour” is just the latest proof on that. Even while engaging in elements of a light, playful foodie experience, the sense of the much more serious undertones is never far away, and the end of the episode (discounting the typical humorous epilogue) is far grimmer indeed.

Although gushing over food like the cast of The Forsaken Saintess and Her Foodie Roadtrip in Another World is a new level for this franchise, commentary on food has actually long been a regular feature. Food was the main focus of the OVA Operation Pasta, but the series has also made regular observations about the quality (or more typically, lack thereof) of food on both the front lines and the home front going as far back as the beginning of the first season, with the most stark example being a scene from episode 7 of this season that’s referenced here. Beyond giving Tanya ample chance to make all kinds of interesting faces and visual interpretations of her dining experience, the scene also serves as a stark contrast to the reality of the Empire, and that’s certainly not lost on Tanya. How deep the Ildoan motives run here is more in question. They’re certainly trying to make a good impression on their “guests” to show that they’re on peaceful terms with the Empire, and Colonel Gassman’s gushing over his country’s offerings could just be as simple as national pride. But are they trying to send a message as well? Something like “this is what peace can bring you” or “this is what we can offer if you stay on good terms with us” very well could be intended, and even the fresh bread isn’t making Tanya oblivious to that, either.

Other tidbits show the contrasting priorities the Ildoans have here: they are distrusting enough to have guns aimed at the submarine bringing Tanya and her subordinates into port, but they’re also generous in providing travel funds. That may be a big part of why the whole experience leaves Tanya uneasy. The possible cause for that unease gets suggested in her meeting with Rudersdorf when she’s back on home turf: as nice as everything looks in Ildoa, they’re also exceedingly vulnerable. The scenes with Rerugen doing an inspection a few episodes back show that they’re not being completely careless, but when Rudersdorf mentions that attacking Ildoa is at least a consideration, Tanya realizes that, based on what she saw, it’s actually quite feasible; Ildoa’s peace dividends also leave it soft. She also quite probably has no intention of mentioning that, since she wants this conflict to end sooner rather than later, but if Tanya noticed it, then someone reading the reports from her and Rerugen likely will as well, and she knows that, too.

But all of the scenes in the Empire – even the lighter-hearted ones – reinforce another truth, too: Tanya has always had an exit strategy for the war in the back of her mind, but now she’s trying to bring a personal exit strategy to the forefront. And as suggested by various encounters hers and in episode 7, she’s far from the only one. In fact, many of the military’s key players look like they’re seeking a way out, but that may not even be possible anymore. Since we’re nearly at the limit of what I have read in the novels, it makes me wonder where this story’s going to be at season’s end. But that’s not a bad thing, either.

I also have to mentioned the caliber of the background art, especially in the train scenes. Someone put quite a lot of effort into the meticulous detail of those fancy train cars. The visual shift in lighting as the train moved into Empire territory was also an effective touch.

As a final note, I am pleased to point out that the aforementioned OVA Operation Desert Pasta finally has an English dub as of 9/2/26. Some sources are claiming that the movie has been dubbed, too, but just not released yet, so look forward to upcoming announcements about that.

Saga of Tanya the Evil II episode 8

Rating: B+

Throughout the anime adaptation, Tanya has appeared on nearly every front that Germany directed engaged in during World War I or World War II. (The sole front that has not been represented is the battles in the eastern and southern German colonies in Africa during WW1.) The one she’s spent the least amount of time on in anime form has been the Northern Africa front, though. Aside from the epilogue for episode 12 of the first season and the first few minutes of the movie, the only focus on it was the OVA episode “Operation Desert Pasta,” and that was more a facetious side story than an actual representation of the front. While this episode’s mission doesn’t represent a full-blown return to that front, it at least touches on that direction and allows for a brief cameo by General Romel, this world’s stand-in for Edwin “The Desert Fox” Rommel.

To be specific, the episode involves the Empire pulling back its North African forces in light of Operation Andromeda grinding to a halt in a stalemate. Since the Allies control the seas (as they did in WW2), such a crossing would be a perilous one, so the 203rd is assigned out of their break to help make that happen. Making matters worse is that Ildoa, while not being completely obstructionist, isn’t cooperating, either, by not allowing the Empire forces to land travel through their territory, thus making the sea transport longer and thus more vulnerable. (Apparently they didn’t take well to basically being told to “stuff it” over their peace proposal a couple of episodes back.) And the one thing the Empire does have going for it on the seas – its submarines – don’t have accurate enough torpedoes to deal with the Allied fleet. So of course this is the perfect time for a certain mad scientist to show up.

Frankly, making this world’s version of the V-2 rocket be a mage-guided torpedo feels a bit repetitive, as the challenge and threat to Tanya’s safety here isn’t much different than the V-1 headhunting mission done in the first season. Granted, we do get some nicely-animated shots of naval ships being blown up this time and a good ending joke about how Neumann was too chubby to participate in this operation, but this winds up not being one of the series’ fresher episodes as a result. It also mostly lacks the insightful social commentary of the previous episode or the high drama of some other recent episodes.

There are some definite historical allusions present in this, though. The Hood and the Ark Royal were a British cruiser and aircraft carrier, respectively, which played significant roles in World War 2 naval actions. The former was famously sunk by the German battleship Bismarck, while the latter was involved in hunting down the Bismarck and was later sunk by a U-boat while escorting convoys. Since the battleship Bismarck has not appeared in this setting, the 203rd Aerial Battalion and the mission to evacuate North Africa were probably chosen to explain their destruction. The submarine Tanya goes to afterwards, the U-091, was an actual submarine which did fight in WW2, but it fought entirely in the North Atlantic and was not in service until after both of the other ships sank, so it’s possible that numbering that ship 91 could also be a reference to the HMS Ark Royal‘s pennant number.

On the upside, the “visit” to Ildoa should prove interesting, since neither Rerugen nor Tanya seem at all content with Ildoa’s behavior here. A passive, unobtrusive visit is certainly what the Ildoans want: a token visit to prove that they’re not hostile to the Empire, while at the same time showing that they’re still effectively neutral to everyone else. Given Tanya’s track record, I have to think she was deliberately assigned to this duty with the expectation that she was going to cause some kind of problem, and sailing in with flags openly displayed and calling out greetings is certainly not the level of conspicuousness that the Ildoans wanted. (Rerugen is shown getting a stomach ache from this, but he had to expect something like this from Tanya.) Should be very entertaining next episode to see how the Ildoans deal with her when she’s in their own country.