For all of the different visual and animation styles the series has showcased, and for all its crazy reincarnation scenarios, the most persistent truth throughout My Ribdiciulous Reincarnation is how stone-faced Goddess is. Even when hints of emotion creep through in her words and attitude, her expression has never changed. Since Pale-Haired Emotionless Girl has been a common anime trope for 30 years now, and since she has functionally served as the series’ Straight Man (er, Woman), this has been easy to pass off as just another standard anime gimmick. However, in the series’ biggest surprise revelation, the last episode demonstrates that this has actually been a critical plot point all along. Actually, that’s an understatement; getting Goddess to smile is the plot of the series, and not only is nearly every single thing in the series calculated to make that happen, but it also quite literally proves to be the key to saving the universe. But hey, if you’re going to spend the whole series trafficking in absurdity, why not make the climax of the series equally absurd?
It turns out that the chaos creatures we’ve seen glimpses of over the past couple of episodes is actually the accumulation of bad karma Goddess collected over the eons in her duties as a celestial enforcer, so deadening her emotions wasn’t the only side effect of that assignment. (This calls into question the efficiency of the system created by the Creator God, but that’s kinda beside the point here.)And the key to offsetting that reality-destroying threat isn’t Goddess’s strength; it’s her smile. You could look at it as regaining her emotions being a way of striking the balance, but however the exact mechanics work (this series never lets itself be mired in specifics), the Creator Gods has projected that everything is doomed if he can’t break her out of her emotional doldrums, and thus he sent the protagonist to her. Turns out he wasn’t just randomly being silly; entertaining Goddess, and ultimately winning that smile from her, was his ulterior motive all along. Granted, he probably would have tried to do that even without Creator God’s entreaties, but it shows why Creator God was much more tolerant of the protagonist’s antics than the lesser gods (who clearly didn’t know anything about this) were. It also shows that there was a guiding force behind all those odd reincarnation choices rather than just random chance.
This all comes to a head in the protagonist’s final reincarnation, where the other gods force him to the front of the line to reincarnate as a hero who will save the world under the presumption that this will finally leaving him dying satisfied at the end. But they have thoroughly underestimated the person who spent his time as a human on Earth seeking out Goddess based on a vague memory, so even with his memory supposedly wiped, he calls out for Goddess with his final breath. Stunningly, this results in one of the season’s most intensely emotional moments (something I never thought I would say about this series!), thus earning the screen shot shown above and triggering the world-saving finale.
Of course, this series being what it is, that isn’t the only reincarnation, but there’s only two in play this time:
Episode
Reincarnation
Animation Style
Producer
11
A Pretty Girl Heroine Who’s Demoted to Third Place by the Yuri Harem Hero Protagonist, and the Main and Sub Protagonists Take All the Traditional Tropes for Their Personalities, While the Ones Who Come In Later in the Story Have Far More Impact, so by the Time We Reach the Middle of the Story, She’s Kept Off-Screen and Referred To by Name Only, and by the End of the Story You Don’t Even See Her Name Anymore.
Mostly three-color stills
Sayaka Yamasaki
12
Hero who saves the world from the Demon King
filtered traditional
not listed
Sayaka Yamasaki is a manga-ka probably not well-known to the anime community since her key works have been turned into live-action shows rather than anime (Haruka 17 and Siren are examples), but she did also do the artwork for a short-run manga called Telepathic Wanderers that I reviewed a couple of decades ago, and the art style here is very reminiscent of that. It is colored only in black and white with pinkish highlights for much of its segment but shifts to blue highlights when the scenario suddenly gender-swaps in the middle. (And yes, that means it turns from blatantly yuri to blatantly BL for a while.) And that’s far from the only ridiculous thing that happens in it. By comparison, the segment in episode 12 is not only vastly more conventional but also played utterly straight (in every sense of the word!).
Is this the end for My Ribdiculous Reincarnations? While there are endless additional possibilities for crazy reincarnations, the concept does feel like it’s run its course, and the plot that we didn’t know the series always had has come to a satisfying conclusion with the end of episode 12. There’s also only one source light novel (which leaves me curious about which of these scenarios are anime-only). Hence this season was probably always meant to be a standalone. That’s fine, because the series has capably executed its concept in providing one of the most absurdist works of anime since Pop Team Epic. It’s getting a very low rating on Crunchyroll and a mediocre one on MyAnimeList in large part, I think, because its animation approach is too unconventional, but I consider it to be one of the season’s hidden gems overall.
Welcome to my seasonal Guide! The debut schedule can be found here; it should be updated for the current season by 6/27.
I expect to cover every full-episode series that will be debuting this season and is available in streaming form, including many of the sequels/returning series. Sequels/continuations that I will NOT be covering (because I’m not caught up on the franchise) include Hana-Kimi, Bungo Stray Dogs Wan!, Hell Mode, You and I Are Polar Opposites,Grand Blue Dreaming, Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers, Trapped in a Dating Sim,and The Elusive Samurai. The new Bang Dream! title may be covered if it proves to be a stand-alone. Goodbye, Lara will also not be covered here since its first episode was reviewed in its own feature article.
As always, titles are generally presented in debut order by day, with the most recent debuts being on top; some variance to this may occur when titles are not initially licensed for legal streaming.
The Preview Guide will likely largely end on 7/12 with the debut of Though I Am an Inept Villainess. However, the return of Bleach is two weeks later and that will be added on when it happens. There are also at least three titles which don’t currently have specific debut dates listed, so that could change things if their debuts are late ones.
Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)!
Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays
Rating: 3.5 (of 5)
Celesty McMarden had admired maids from a young age, so her resolve to become the ultimate maid upon her mother’s death triggered the awakening of her immense magical powers. That did not, however, change her all-consuming desire to become a maid, to the point that she actively avoided her other possibility: to seek out the count who was the father she never knew. She changed her distinctive hair color and started going by Melody Wave (thus unwittingly dodging the count’s men who were seeking her out) and traveled to the capital, where she jumped at a chance to be an “all-works” maid for the downtrodden but still noble Rudelberg estate. Both the estate and its mistress, teenage Luciana, were in desperate need of help with the retirement of the estate’s one other servant, so Melody stepped in to right the ship. It was, after all, the perfect task for a girl who had been an incomparable genius in her previous life but only found color in her passion for maids.
I may be a bit biased on this one, as I’ve read the first five novels and first volume of manga for this series and thus considered this one of my most-anticipated new series of the season. Despite some odd choices (like waiting until near the episode’s end to reveal the title’s isekai status, which is hugely integral to the story as a whole), this is a largely satisfying debut for the series, one which delivers vibrant colors and generally inviting visuals. Most importantly, it retains the novel’s narration, which is nearly as important character in the story as any of the characters actually depicted (the first hints of its biting snarkiness appear in this episode) and provides the first evidence of the absurdities it traffics in (Melody’s offhand comment about how her maid uniform is more protective than armor). This episode does not even suggest that the series is largely about Melody unwittingly turning an otome game scenario completely sideways, but that’s coming. This should be a fun, lighter-side view for this season.
Jinsei can also refer to a 2014 anime series concerning an advice column, but in this case it refers to the full-length movie by anime newcomer Ryuya Suzuki, which was released in Japan in the summer of 2025 and has seen a modest release in U.S. theaters during June 2026. This 93 minute project was almost entirely made by just Suzuki, who is listed in the credits for all production positions except Sound Director; he even did the music himself. While he did not voice any of the characters, the seiyuu used are almost entirely individuals who have either no or very limited anime voice work credits and instead have more credits in live-action movies. Hence this is, in many respects, a very atypical anime effort.
That’s immediately evident in the visuals and animation, too. The animation style, which offers limited dynamic movement and stresses sudden shifts of expression, is perhaps most reminiscent of South Park. And while character designs aren’t quite that stylized, they are a far cry from anime norms. You would not easily visually mistake this one for any other anime out there.
The movie’s name translates as “life,” and that is, indeed, what the movie is about: the full life of a protagonist who goes by several different names throughout, with the ordinary options including Se-chan, Kuro, and Zen. During his elementary years, he’s deeply traumatized by witnessing the death of his mother in an accident caused by a dementia-ridden old driver and raised from then on by his stepfather (as his biological father, who was a complete mess but also a former male idol, also died), who never fully gets over his wife’s death himself. Life is not easy for the boy, whose trauma is poorly understood by classmates who bully him over how he doesn’t speak and always has a gloomy attitude, but a partial saving grace is being befriended by a new kid, with whom he eventually winds up getting scouted for a male idol group (due in no small part to him being the son of an idol the group’s manager once produced, and thus having decidedly good looks). But the protagonist never truly fits in there, either, and his life spins outs of control due to an incident of violence at what should have been his debut. He even winds up being a vagrant for a while before getting drawn back into the entertainment industry many years later. But his life takes even weirder turns as the 21st century progresses.
The 93 minute movie is a much more ambitious project narratively than it is visually, with the story told in chapters which progress the timeline but often don’t elaborate at all about what happens in between. That’s not to say that there isn’t some visual creativity here; scene montages are used to interesting effect at various points in the middle and later stages, and the visuals become more abstract and experimental in the movie’s final stages. It is also a completely serious and sometimes very dark story, with scenes of bullying, savage beating, graphic violence, suicide, sexual coercion, and even a brief scene featuring defecation. Language use is also occasionally at an R-rated level.
This being a virtual solo project will undoubtedly draw parallels to the career-starting works of Makoto Shinkai, and the comparisons and contrasts between the two are interesting. Both are uneven in production quality, but they are otherwise entirely different projects. While Shinkai opted for a more intimately emotional tale rooted at its base in more standard anime tropes for his debut work (Voices of a Distant Star), Suzuki aims for a more analytical approach with a much broader scope, one which, at times, is as much social commentary as it is actual storytelling. That results in this one having a much harder edge but also being much colder, as it entirely lacks the sentiment which underlies all of Shinkai’s works. That means that we can probably expect an entirely different style of work from Suzuki in the future, but that’s not meant as a negative. There are good reasons why this one has gotten a lot of attention, and it’s worth checking out if you’re looking for an anime work that’s decidedly off the beaten path.
Episodes 7 and 8 showed some hints of an actual bigger picture for this series, but episodes 9 and 10 show that, among all of the reincarnation madness, there may be some purposeful intent to what the protagonist has undergone.
Episode 9 features individual world gods assembling to complain about the world-disrupting antics of the protagonists and plead for something to be done about it with a god who seems to be the cosmic equivalent of a unit manager. That god choosing to take the more roundabout method of forcing the protagonist through a long chain of immediately-successive reincarnations in an effort to erode his identity suggests two things: that everyone is at least wary of (if not fearful of) Goddess and that the protagonist’s regular encounters with Goddess in between reincarnations are critical to retaining his identity through all of the reincarnations. The most interesting aspect of this, though, is who seems to be the one to interfere when this gimmick finally seems on the verge of succeeding: the Creator God himself. Episode 10 suggests that he may even have a motive for doing so: for some reason, the protagonist is crucial to a cosmic threat that the underling gods are apparently unaware is approaching. Exactly why he’s important for that isn’t clear yet, though it could have something to do with motivating Goddess to get involved against the encroaching threat. After all, if she was powerful enough to eliminate rogue gods, she should be useful against a chaos creature, too.
But this is still a skit show spoofing isekai reincarnations, so it’s not going to skip over including numerous crazy reincarnation scenarios. This time, though, a number of reincarnations presented in brief, rapid-fire mode accompany the five more developed scenarios scattered across episodes 9 and 10; those do not have separate producers and are indicated with an asterisk in the table below:
Episode
Reincarnation
Animation Style
Producer
9
Buddhist temple bell?*
traditional
none listed
9
Fireball spat out by a cat*
traditional
none listed
9
Locker the protagonist hides in during a horror game
LA, mostly
isai inc.
9
Robot driving intergalactic reincarnation truck
CG
Type Zero
9
Armadillo pet of a demon girl*
traditional
none listed
9
Potion bottle used by an adventurer*
traditional
none listed
9
Chair in a fantasy inn*
traditional
none listed
9
Child taken in by the hero
traditional
none listed
10
A boomerang which doesn’t return
Children’s picture book
Damian Sho
10
The explosion and smoke that appears when heroes strike a pose
tokusatsu
isai inc.
As normal, here are some same screen shots from the developed scenarios:
Of the producers this time, isai inc. has become a regular, while Type Zero is a studio which has mostly done CG support for a variety of titles over the past decade or so. I could not find anything about Damian Sho, however.
Of these scenarios, the locker one was mostly live-action with just a little CG animation of the locker’s movements in a couple of scenes, while the sentai team scenario was pure, super-campy live-action. The robot truck driver one offers some of the series’ sharpest satire (as well as a few additional silly incarnations, though not ones involving the protagonist), while the “child adopted by the hero” scenario is easily the most serious one in the series to date. All of the other main scenarios feature the series’ trademark absurdity to some degree, with it arguably being the funniest in the locker scenario.
With just two (maybe three?) episodes left, will the series attempt to bring the mild plot elements to some degree of resolution? While I’d like to think those aren’t just a tease for a longer-term story, I won’t be terribly disappointed if the series just continues its normal antics, either.
Normally covering two episodes together just means double the reviewing task. In this particular case, though, doing so has greater benefits, as some elements revealed in episode 8 are distinctly linked so some things revealed in episode 7. In other words, the series is finally showing at least greater conceptual connectivity, if not actual plot.
Episode 7 starts with the revelation that Goddess once had a much greater multiversal role than just assigning reincarnations: she was once the Goddess of Erasure, an entity charged with eliminating gods who got problematically carried away with the development of their worlds and dumping their souls into a “sealing quasar.” And in one such incident a little dog get caught up in her business and fatally injured. Episode 8 then goes on to reveal that, since the pup was inadvertently taken out of the cycle of reincarnation by involvement with her, she arranged to have it reincarnated on the “blue of trials” – i.e., Earth. The very strong implication here is that the pup got reincarnated as our protagonist; in retrospect, even the dog’s expression in episode 7 is reminiscent of the protagonist, and it would certainly explain why he has a doglike tail and mannerisms at times. In other words, there may be a deeper reason why the Goddess is putting up with him and how he came to be under her administration. And does this mean that he’s an irregular because of his contact with her?
Her formerly being the Goddess of Erasure also explains why she is disliked by the other gods, and why they are reluctant to interfere with her even though she’s been demoted to merely being a reincarnation goddess. She’s essentially been given a crap job, too, since the commentary some established gods have with some new gods clarifies that her current position offers no advancement opportunities up the dimensional hierarchy and she’s essentially serving as a troubleshooter for cases where reincarnations can’t be handled by the automated system. It’s all an interesting, dramatic expansion on the multiverse-building for this series.
But there are also multiple reincarnations involved in these two episodes, too. While episode 7 maintains the pattern of two fully-animated vignettes per episode seen so far, it also throws a curve ball by just referencing two other cases. Episode 8 changes up the game again by just focusing on a single reincarnation and continuing to tell the story of that setting after the protagonist leaves it.
Episode
Reincarnation
Animation Style
Production
7
Torch on a dungeon wall
Minecraft, mostly, with a taste of Mortal Kombat
Kenichi Higaki, Tichila Junklin
7
The pillowcase at an inn where the isekai heroine stays
same
same
7
Sea King’s trident
not animated
—
7
Hero’s shoelace
not animated
—
8
Heroine’s curry plate
traditional, mostly
Kaniza
Of the two animators featured this time, Higaki has some history as a 3D CG specialist on fare ranging from early CG-using titles like Vandread and Last Exile to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders and KamiKatsu, while Junklin is a 3D artist who has some prior experience in animation but is making her first foray into anime with this project. They animated both parts of episode 7 because I believe both were set in the same world, and in both cases they combined Minecraft-like blocky animation with more video game-like characters, sometimes even in the same shot:
Kaniza, who is responsible for episode 8’s segments, is a Japanese animator most known for various short animations. She appears to also be making her anime debut with this effort, using a much more conventional style with a distinctive but not especially odd shading aesthetic:
In addition to the “what happens after” part of the story, episode 8’s scenario also distinguishes itself for being the rare case where the protagonist’s participation doesn’t lead to massive upheaval; in fact, it’s actually fairly sweet tale about the Hero and Demon Lord moving forwards after their epic confrontation and a later loss of a friend by the Hero. Was this just a fluke, though, or will it be a trend?
This half covers titles which hit episode 6 on or after 5/10/26. It also includes a special for an older series which happened to debut during the first half of the season.
Ascendance of a Bookworm s3
Rating So Far: B
While there have been any big events so far this season, the series nonetheless continues to be a low-key delight, showing up Rozmyne’s progression into noble society and the steps she takes to help fund and promote her printing effort, including finagling Ferdinand into putting on a concert and introducing the concept of selling merch at such an event. She also, notably, finally gets the flying animal car that’s to become her magical “steed.” Again, the series isn’t doing anything special but is still progressing nicely.
Farming Life in Another World s2
Rating So Far: B
So far, the second season has firmly maintained the focus on fantasy-themed bucolic fun which made the first season a success. That means that nothing much for actual plot developments happens, but the story does progress with the addition of new races (minotaurs, centaurs, harpies, additional angels), the expansion to a second and third village, and visits from various powerful individuals, including assorted dragons, the High Priestess of the religion that the vampire progenitor runs, and the Demon King. The one concession to anime norms is a martial arts tournament episode, which gives the various races chances to show off in a fight, though a series of challenges Hiraku has to pass to satisfy a newcomer angel provides arguably the season’s funniest sequence. (Watching one of the Killer Angels lose it as the newcomer’s challenges comically run headlong into Hiraku’s reality is half the fun here.) That the series is really just maintaining here is totally fine; the one negative is that the ever-expanding cast has pushed attention on Lulucy and her son with Hiraku to the side.
Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku!?
Rating So Far: B
On the surface, this is just another potential-love-triangle-centered romcom involving a nondescript boy paired with two girls well beyond his normal social circles and class station. And, indeed, that’s pretty much how the first six episodes play out, with the trio interacting as a friend group or in assorted date-like scenarios. However, I’ve long felt that the key to making romcom triangles work is to provide convincing reasons why the characters get together in the first place, and this one does a better job of that than most. Takuya connects with Kei over a shared interest, Kotoko gets involved because she’s interested in how her stoic friend is less stoic around Takuya, and both girls seem to appreciate that Takuya isn’t constantly trying to hit on them, like so many other guys do. Bringing in the younger siblings (or, in Kei’s case, the neighbor girl who’s like a little sister) also helps, as does seeing what the girls are like when not in “gal” mode or their slightly atypical school capabilities. (Cool Kei is actually the athletic one, while gregarious Kotoko is the brainy one.) The way the girls’ eyes are drawn may throw some off, but this has been a fun and surprisingly non-fan servicey (even the beach episode had the girls in very conservative, tasteful swimsuits) ride so far.
Ghost Concert: Missing Songs
Rating So Far: C+
This series has some neat ideas – especially in its coolly-executed song battle duets – but man, the actual plot and world structure here are confusing as hell. Episode 6 does at least establish a bit about the origin of MiucS, though why it was needed to replace “songs that kill” or how it warped into the semi-mystical entity which has banished all music besides itself and yet doesn’t seem unsympathetic to Seria has yet to be explained. At least the vague hint of yuri that’s been lingering in the background since the beginning has now been formalized, and Seria’s gotten to collect a rather powerful assortment of Great Ghosts. (New ones pop up each episode, too, including Tesla and, most recently, Nero.) This could be a pretty decent series if it ever gets around to more fully explaining itself.
I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World special
Rating: B-
This 47 minute special is a direct follow-up to the end of season 1, one which features Yuti coming to the modern world and joining Yuya and Kaori’s school and, later, Kaori accompanying Yuya and Yuti to Lexia’s kingdom, where they get involved with an affair concerning a legendary dragon. The Vile also start to more directly show their faces, as do additional Divine. In other words, this is a plot expansion rather than a side story and absolutely mandatory viewing for anyone who was a fan of the first season’s 2023 run. It retains (for better or worse) all of he first season’s distinctive character designs, fan service inclinations, and animation shortcuts, too. A second season has been announced, so this should tide the fan base over for now.
Re:Zero S4
Rating So Far: A-
Re:Zero has always stood among the elite of isekai titles, and while this hasn’t been a spectacular season for it so far, nothing here dissuades from that status, either. The most direct quest yet to find a solution to Rem’s deep sleep (among other things) has had expected complications, multiple Return by Death events, some of the most gruesome content seen yet in the series, and some very interesting implications about the identity of the Sage whose tower Subaru has gone to. When it’s harrowing, the series doesn’t have an equal within its genre, and it never shorts on character development, either. (Why is the fake Aanastasia so desperate to help Julius against a tough opponent, for instance?) Between these and the series’ generally-strong technical merits, it’s one of the season’s upper-tier titles.
The Classroom of a Black Cat and a Witch
Rating So Far: C+
Really, the whole thing about kissing a cat’s ass feels more and more unnecessarily juvenile as the series progresses, but that’s only barely touched on beyond the first episode. The series instead focuses much more on setting up a very standard “class of misfits at magic school” scenario and routinely fails to to anything at all interesting with it. The only reason it’s not getting a lower grades is because it generally looks pretty decent.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime s4
Rating So Far: B-
This almost deserves a lower rating after suffering through the stupidity of the two episodes focusing on Rimuru, Milim, and Veldora making avatars so that they can traipse around Tempest’s own dungeon and beat up adventurers (but only after getting thrashed first!), but the first half makes up for that by shifting to a much heavier plot focus after that, one involving Tempest being considered for admission to the Western Council. This half also gives us some backstory on Mariabell and shows why she’s dangerous enough to be the main antagonist for this season. If the emphasis on plot continues then this could be a better series in the end than what it started out looking like.
The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen
Rating So Far: B
Of all the “reincarnated as a villainess” series, none have the titular character seem more haunted by her potential role than with Pride Royal Ivy. Given that the true Pride was legitimately evil incarnate (a truth bolstered once again by what she did to the foreign prince who was to be her consort), why she would be this way is not hard to understand, but this is the rare series of its type where none of that is played off as a joke. That helps keep the series going through the less interesting parts. (Sorry. Stale, but you’re just not an interesting enough character to warrant this much attention. Val, on the other hand. . .) Also good to see that Pride and Tiara’s parents haven’t been forgotten about. The series isn’t doing anything exceptional but is satisfyingly holding course.
The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King
Rating So Far: B
Though the series has never been dull, the most recent episode has been the most interesting, with the expected revelation that the missing warrior princess from Sera’s backstory is Veorg’s mother and the unexpected revelation that Veorg’s people have actually been deeply influenced themselves by Western traditions, even if many of them don’t realize it. (The concept of marriage in their culture was introduced by all those captured female knights, for instance.) On the plus side beyond that, the story so far has been rich with world-building details and Sera has, thankfully, been allowed to fight. On the minus side, servant Cersei is just there; though regularly present, she’s barely shown a personality and had only a hint of background development. A fan servicey element continues to be a semi-regular but not constant aspect. Overall, it’s been one of the season’s more entertaining views.
Wistoria Wand and Sword s2
Rating So Far: B
The strength of this series’s first season lay entirely in its lavishly-presented action sequences, but it excelled so well at those that much of the rest of it didn’t matter. Though this season has plenty of spectacle with a prolonged battle scenario, that also felt like it dragged out, and the last two episodes have felt more like a seasonal cap than a midway point. The mysteries inherent in the setting and especially who/what Will is continue to build, though, and that keeps the series afloat for now. And is it just me, or does this series’ Finn remind one a lot of a Finn from another certain series centered on a Dungeon?
Goodbye, Lara is an original series from studio Kinema Citrus that is due to air during the Summer 2026 season. It had its world debut at Anime Central this past weekend (perhaps because it was first announced at this convention two years ago), as well as its advertising poster being rendered as a chalk drawing worked on throughout the convention (seen here). Director Takushi Koide was also present to talk about the production afterwards, though I couldn’t stay for that part due to a schedule conflict.
In essence, the series is the answer to the question “what if the Hans Christian Anderson version of The Little Mermaid continued with the mermaid reincarnating rather than transcending as a spirit after death?” Indeed, most of the first episode is a condensed retelling of the base story, with a few minor tweaks: the “little mermaid” Lara isn’t a remarkable singer (she loses her voice as part of the deal with the Witch for reasons other than the Witch stealing it) and the Witch, who is Lara’s exiled aunt in this version, isn’t evil or hostile, but more an outsider who values freedom over the strict rules of the Sea King. Certain parts of the original story – such as the mermaid being tempted to stab the prince after being turned away by him but not going through with it – are included, though not quite enough context to fully understand why it’s happening if you don’t know the original tale well. That was the biggest flaw of what was otherwise a very well-handled set-up part.
That leaves the last few minutes to deal with Lara’s modern-day reincarnation in Japan’s Lake Biwa 200 years later, where she learns that the mermaid kingdom fell to ruin in the wake of her passing and her continuing her quest for True Love in the modern era may, according to a message left behind by the Witch, be the key to reviving it. That leads to her first encounter with the series’ co-protagonist Mari, a girl who carries boxing gloves around and seems to have some mystical ability, which really couldn’t go any worse.
I found the alternate take on the Witch, Grace, to be a very interesting characterization shift, and a running joke about Lara biting a fish in half is much cuter than it sounds after the initial shock. The story set-up is impactful and even somewhat emotion, and the way the two girls meet in the episode’s last scene is a riot. This will undoubtedly draw many viewers into watching more. Visuals and animation produce a more old-school aesthetic, with a feel more like cel animation than digital rendering; reactions will vary on whether that’s a plus or minus.
In all, this is a solid start to a series I will most likely be following when it airs.
This segment covers episodes 5 and 6 of My Ribdiculous Reincarnation, which collectively offer a quartet of new reincarnations, some additional interstitial shenanigans, references to a couple of earlier reincarnations, and some additional hints of a bigger picture that may or may not ever impact the story.
The reincarnations in these two episodes are summarized below:
Episode
Reincarnated as. . .
Animation Style
Producer
5
String tying a secret ninja scroll
Paper cut-outs
Hoji Tsuchiya
5
The awkward feeling of a single man in the background when a couple is kissing in front of him
Rotoscoping over colored pencil backgrounds?
isai, inc.
6
A banana that makes happy couples explode
Jojo-esque
Maria Tokareva
6
A descendant of the World Tree at war with beavers
Stop-motion
Biogon Pictures
And here are visual samples, in order:
As you may have noticed, three of the four producers in these two episodes also did segments for earlier episodes, suggesting that there’s going to be a regular rotation rather than a different producer each time. The one newcomer, Hoji Tsuchiya, is making his anime debut here, but he has a portfolio of paper cut-out animation spanning a couple of decades.
Naturally, all of these segments eventually go awry at least in part because of the actions and/or special powers of the protagonist. They also all feature some degree of utterly absurdity, such as a castanet-focused soloist “battle of the bands” between the Hero and Demon King, a DDR battle between a walking tree and the Beaver King, or a comedy duel between the Hero and Demon King. (An interesting recurring but not pervasive theme here is the “Demon King” not starting out that way but becoming that via social isolation – self-imposed in some cases.) Some are more effective than others; of this set, the one with the castanets was definitely the funniest. (It also featured gekiga artwork and “explosion hair” as running gags.)
The interstitial parts weren’t lacking in these episodes, either, whether it’s the karaoke singing (shown in the opening screen shot), , Goddess’s somewhat cruel means for achieving weight loss, or Goddess looking quite adorable in a mysteriously gifted kimono (see below). These bits also revisit a couple of previously-appearing characters; Tanaka, the top hat-wearing guy from the clock tower segment (episode 3) reappears a couple of times in different settings, apparently looking for a lost lover, and the Demon King from the locked treasure chest segment (episode 4) is confirmed to have reincarnated as the fish who taught the protagonist as a hermit crab back in episode 2. The latter bit suggests a time-bendy aspect to all this reincarnation stuff, and I’d really like to know what kind of email or messaging account is allowing them to keep in contact. Some further indications are also dropped that other gods are paying attention to what Goddess (or perhaps the protagonist?) is up to, and apparently Goddess is an outsider among her peers; with her attitude about things, that’s not hard to understand.
Will all these hints of a bigger picture ever amount to anything? Does it even matter? While these episodes may not be quite as sharp as the first couple, this is still a plenty entertaining odyssey if you don’t mind the varying animation styles.
I am still keeping up with over 20 titles this season, so I am back to breaking this endeavor into two parts. The first covers titles which have hit episode 6 (or in a couple of cases 7) by 5/9/26, and the second (to follow next week) will cover all other titles. Since I am covering My Ribdiculous Reincarnation in biweekly reports, it will not be included in either part.
On the whole, this has not been as strong a season so far as last one in a qualitative sense. (But that’s to be expected, since I still maintain that Winter ’26 will long be remembered as one of the strongest ever.) However, the season is not hurting for entertaining titles..
Agents of the Four Seasons
Rating: B
What this series was aiming for is clear: take an intriguing (if impractical) supernatural set-up in modern day and narrow the focus to a personal level: how the situation impacts the seasonal Agents and their relationships with the people around them, must especially the Guards assigned to personally protect them. To a certain extent this works, and this is a tale rooted in deep emotions and deeper psychological trauma, especially for Hinagaku (the Agent of Spring), who apparently developed a new personality to cope with years of being kidnapped. However, the series is hampered by spending too little time explaining itself. Why are there terrorists apparently seeking to kidnap or kill the agents? What could they possibly stand to gain from killing an Agent, since a new one is automatically chosen then the previous one dies? This has not event been hinted at through seven episodes, and since that’s a main driver for the story’s plot, that’s a massive omission. This could be a very good series if it better justified its own internal logic.
Always a Catch!
Rating So Far: B+
If I were to make a “priority view” ranking for the season, this title is my current #1, and not just among new titles. It’s just so much fun to watch, and that has everything to do with protagonist Maria. The cheery way she approaches almost everything is such a delight, and hardly anything fazes her as she barrels he way through any problem she faces, whether it be bandits, nobles, or even foreign royalty. It’s not hard at all to understand how she unwittingly wins Renato over as the husband prospect she was looking for. But while Maria could carry the series, she doesn’t have to. The beefy escorts who come to take Maria back home after her betrothal just feel right, and I got a particular delight out of how Maria’s sisters stomped all over their father when he was rude. Maria clearly adores the little brother who’s supplanting her as the family’s successor, and she’s also no joke when it does come to a fight. Both she and this series make for an interesting contrast to Scarlet and May I Ask for One Final Thing? from a couple of seasons ago; despite some thematic overlap, they takes entirely different approaches, and I love it.
An Observation Log of My Fiancee Who Calls Herself a Villainess
Rating: B+
I expected this series – with its novel twist on the standard isekai villainess set-up – to be amusing and even interesting, but I was not expecting it to actually be good. But that’s where we are at the end of six episodes, with the prince starting to realize that Bertia is more to him than just entertainment to alleviate his boredom. Of course, Bertia still hasn’t quite accepted herself that she’s failing miserably at being a villainess (and trying to get Cecil together with the proper heroine) because she’s unwittingly won over both the prince and a wide range of supporters that the true villainess shouldn’t have, and that’s just a adorable. This is easily my second-favorite new series of the season, with my only complain so far being Cecil’s younger brother. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT HAT????
Daemons of the Shadow Realm
Rating So Far: B
I have a big problem with this one, and it has to do with the series’ tone. Episodes past the first seem to be largely ignoring how grim the first episode was, and the series has struggled to find a good balance between its lighter and darker elements. Asa’s behavior in particular also seems entirely out of line with how she was portrayed in that first episode. Granting, a big reveal on the truth of her situation is impending with the next episode, but so far no one is at all explaining to Yuru why such violently aggressive actions needed to be taken against the village (to call it a slaughter wouldn’t be an overstatement) and the only hint has been a comment or two about the village sending out assassins. Essentially, the Kagemoris and Asa haven’t done a thing to justify why Yuru should listen to them, and he can only trust that they’re not out to kill him, too. On the upside, the series has shown that it can deliver on action scenes, and I like the portrayal of Right and Left, especially Right. The English dub has been very capable, too.
MAO
Rating So Far: B
I would rate this one even higher if judging it just on episode 6, where the Great Kanto Earthquake happening is merely the backdrop to explain a lot of the series’ mysteries so far, including at least part of what really happened to Nanoka as a child and how she, Mao, and the Byoki are all connected. In general, this one will never step fully out from the shadow of Inuyasha (whether by design or not), but it is proving to be a solid iteration on the same concept, one backed by some quite respectable technical merits. On the downside, Mao is nowhere near as compelling a character as Inuyasha was, and there’s no romantic tension (at least not yet!), but it doesn’t lack for darkly-shaded mystical elements, and the setting this time being much closer to the present day allows for some things that Inuyasha did not (such as Nanoka doing research on what happened in 1921). Not a favorite, but a definite keeper.
Needy Girl Overdose
Rating: A
No series I’ve seen in recent memory feels like it has more to say per minute than this one does, to the point that it’s not a casual view; optimally, it should be watched with undivided attention and a finger hovering over the Pause button. It’s a series which throws out classic literary references, uses a famous cantata from Bach, or even a defining 18th century artwork to help illustrate its points while also trafficking very much in utterly modern social media and streaming sensibilities, all while dealing with heady topics primarily involving how young women can exist with and within modern media and form their own identities accordingly. Much of its imagery is loaded with symbolism, it does touch on some edgy topics (suicidal ideation, self-harm, coercive sex), and its structure is far from conventional, and that could make it a difficult watch for some, but the boldness with which it approaches its subject matter has to be respected. This is, at worst, one of the two best series of the season.
Reborn as a Vending Machine s3
Rating: C+
This series hasn’t exactly done anything wrong with this season, but perhaps the novelty of its central gimmick has worn off? That the writing has been wishy-washy on handling the betrayal of certain Menagerie of Fools members definitely hasn’t helped. The plot at least looks like it’s headed in more promising directions with a big discovery at the end of episode 6, though, so this lackluster installment may finally be on the upswing.
Snowball Earth
Rating So Far: C+
The CG used for the series’ animation honestly doesn’t bother me, but I have other issues with this one. Most of them concern the series’ pacing, as it’s already showing a bad tendency to tediously draw out major events. This is especially evident in the most recent episode, which spends way too much time establishing the pathetic motivations of the new human villain and then way too much time allowing him to philosophize in the present. I’m giving the “plus” part of the grade because at least the series does introduce some worthwhile supporting characters and establish some bigger mysteries about the nature of the space kaiju, in particular the special cases like the flaming one and the ice-generating humanoid. With those, it’s keeping my attention just enough for me to continue with it.
The Beginning After The Ends2
Rating So Far: C
Of all the sequels I’m following this season, this one was easily the weakest in its earlier content,, and so far its second season hasn’t done anything to change that. It is making at least an effort to keep Tessia involved in a “their paths just don’t cross” irony, but nothing either side is doing is particularly interesting or indicative of any bigger plot. It certainly doesn’t offer much to get excited about on the action front, either (although its most recent episode was one of its better efforts so far). This is purely a “watch when I’m bored” level series for me.
The Strongest Job is Apparently Not a Hero or a Sage. . .
Rating So Far: C+
Of this season’s crop of isekai tales, this one is easily the most conventional in both set-up and execution. While that’s not automatically bad, the series also isn’t doing much to stand out, and it makes a critical error by separating protagonist Hibiki from busty elf Emalia early on for multiple episodes, effectively having her go off on her own story for a while. The series’ efforts to balance its sillier and more serious aspects are uneven in their effectiveness, too. The only things saving the series from complete mediocrity at this point are some curious world-building points brought up in episode 7 (multiple demon lords who don’t necessarily have to be evil and are chosen by the goddess of the underworld?) and hints of a bigger plot which the gods seem to be directly involved in themselves.
This Angel Spoils Me Rotten s2
Rating So Far: B-
Amane and Mahiru finally being open about their relationship allows them to to be openly cute and flirty as they go through the formal stages of dating, including meeting Amane’s parents (expected) and Amane meeting Mahiru’s father (much less expected). As sweet as this is, it’s also, frankly, a bit dull. Prior to Mahiru’s father showing up in episode 6, the only hint of conflict was an encounter Amane had with one of the boys responsible for him not living with his parents, and with Mahiru at hand, he’s unassailable now. We already knew that Amane’s mother adores Mahiru, and so does his dad when he finally gets introduced, so there’s no trouble there. Amane and the father was really the first time this season that true tension existed. That scene was interesting, and I’m curious to see the long-term consequences of that. Overall, the series is watchable but not a priority view.
Witch Hat Atelier
Rating So Far: A-
This one, on the other hand, is a priority view, though more because it’s exceptionally well-made than because I find it fully engrossing. (It would only rank fourth or fifth for the season on my list in that regard.) It’s unquestionably the season’s premiere artistic and technical achievement, but nothing is lacking in a world-building or characterization sense, either, and it does a fine job of setting its tones. The mysteries surrounding the Brimmed Hats are also only starting to grow. It is, at worst, one of the two best series this season, and I can’t see it easily losing that position.
This movie tells an original story which specifically takes place after episode 1 of season 4 of the TV series (in fact, it incorporates a small part of episode 1) and likely before episode 2, even though there doesn’t seem to be that much of a time gap. In nearly every respect it feels just like one of those original movies for long-running shonen action series and plays out in a very similar fashion. But much like the Sword Art Online movie Ordinal Scale (which takes a similar path), it ends with a post-credits scene that is likely a lead-in to future canon developments – in this case, the minion that Diablo left to recruit in s4 episode 1.
Generally speaking, the connection to previous plot developments isn’t huge, so a viewer doesn’t necessarily need to be completely caught up on the series to follow it; only a familiarity with most of the major characters is truly required (though those not caught up will certainly not get certain references, especially Gobta’s claim to be one of Tempest’s Elite Four). In the wake of Tempest’s foundation festival, Elmesia, the elf monarch of Sorcerous Dynasty of Sarion, invites Rimuru and several of his key subordinates and allies (including Ramiris, Veldora, Milim, Valentine, and Hinata) to a resort island within her domain for a holiday. During their play they eventually cross paths with a priestess of the nearby underwater city of Kaien, who is fleeing ninja-like agents from her home city because she has run off with an invaluable flute (which can summon the city’s protector, the Water Dragon) due to her fear of it being used for nefarious purposes. Rimuru and friends get directly involved when Kaien’s messy internal affairs start threatening the resort island directly, resulting in the Water Dragon having to be dealt with.
Though virtually all of the promotional art and trailers feature Rimuru, Gobta is actually the featured character for much of the story and a virtual co-protagonist. He’s the one who first encounters the priestess Yura and the one who forms an initially-combative but later friendly relationship with Yura, and he’s the one featured (sometimes along with Yura) in most of the action scenes in the first two-thirds of the movie; only once the scale of the battles steps beyond what Gobta could reasonably handle do Rimuru and the other powerhouses take over. Though this means Rimuru has less time to show off, this feels like the right call in a narrative sense, as it gives Gobta a taste of the romance he’s longed for, romance for which Rimuru (who’s always studiously avoided it) would have been ill-suited. Besides, Rimuru is simply too powerful at this point for low-level fights like the efforts of the ninjas to capture Yura to offer any challenge.
Gobta getting so much attention doesn’t change how predictable the story beats are, though. Even the big late twist about who Yura actually is can probably be seen coming. (Some aspects may seem especially familiar if you’ve seen the DanMachi movie Arrow of Orion.) The setting of Kaien also suffers for a lack of distinctive cultural development and the story has a tendency to flat-out ignore cast members who should be present when it’s inconvenient, resulting in the story feeling somewhat rushed despite a 105 minute running time. For all those flaws, though, some key emotional aspects near the movie’s end do land, and it certainly doesn’t come up short on the action front. On the lower-power-scale end, Gobta and Yura’s fights and evasion against her pursuers provide some well-animated thrills, while Rimuru dishes out the high-powered action towards the end, also to impressive results.
In general, the animation effort is a distinct step above the TV series, while the artistic merits overall are only a slight improvement. Nothing about the design of the resort city dramatically stands out beyond seemingly taking some influence from certain Greek island (I was on a cruise in that area last year, and kept coming back to that during the island scenes), but it was generally more impressive in design than the underwater city. The musical effort was sufficient but not especially memorable. Because I saw a subtitled-only screening, I cannot comment on the English dub.
Overall, this isn’t a must-see entry in the franchise, but probably sufficient to satisfy established franchise fans. If you’re current on the TV series and decide not to check out the movie as a whole, I do recommend at least taking a look at the post-credits scene when it becomes available in streaming form.
USA Anime 