OP: “Sonare (ソナーレ)” by TOMOO

Winter 2026 kicks off in earnest – on a day I’m traveling, naturally. And first out of the gate for me is a big one, Ikoku Nikki. This was at the top of the mid-table but only because I don’t know the source material and the staff isn’t too noteworthy. In many respects it’s a top-tier prospect – a jousei adaptation based on Yamashita Tomoko’s much-lauded manga. Just being a jousei is notable in its own right – we almost never see them in anime these days. That’s no guarantor of quality of course, but it is a matter of interest.

Thematically we’re treading familiar ground, however. Unlikely adults taking in orphaned children after their parents’ tragic death is a well-trod path in anime. In this instance we have a 15 year-old girl named Takumi Asa (Mori Fuuko), whose parents meet their untimely end at the hands of – you guessed it – truck-kun. The unlikely adult is her aunt Koudai Makio (Sawashiro Miyuki), who Asa hasn’t seen in years. Initially Makio is pressured by other relatives to take Asa in at least temporarily, but soon enough begins to see this as the only possible course of action.

This is a complicated situation, starting with the fact that Makio hated – her words – Asa’s mother (her older sister) Minori (Oohara Sayaka). We don’t get too many details but it seems obvious that Minori was respectable and proper, and viewed Makio as just the opposite. Makio seems to be a writer of some sort, and is clearly a hard-core introvert. She invites Asa to move in after growing disgusted with the behavior of the other relatives (again, this is familiar ground). But she doesn’t put a lot of thought into it, and it becomes clear quickly enough that she’s ill-prepared to share her life with anybody.

Allowing for the fact that this premise is familiar, this premiere is pretty engaging. The execution carries the day, and the interaction between Asa and Makio is fascinating to watch. Asa is emotionally closed to the point where it’s not clear just how much she’s actually feeling about the tragedy herself. Makio encourages her to start keeping a journal, and to just note whatever she feels inside it without regard to truthfulness. Makio is pretty honest with her own feelings – she’s sad for Asa, but not about Minori. Asa, for her part, seems fine with this. She does break down at the family gathering but it’s not clear how much of that, if any, was about actual emotional attachment to her parents.

Of Asa’s father there’s basically no mention. He doesn’t appear in flashback, and neither Asa or Makio refer to him. None of his relatives present themselves after the tragedy. Asa settles in quickly enough at Makio’s place. And while she obviously finds her aunt odd, she clearly enjoys being around her (especially compared to alternative). Makio is a slob and Asa immediately stakes a niche as a cook and housekeeper, and a sort of routine begins to grow around the pair of them. But Makio’s hard-core introversion remains a source of uncertainty – she’s ill-equipped to share her house and her life with a 15 year-old child.

All this works very well in a low-key sort of way. The emotions of the moment are allowed to speak for themselves, without being excessively sold by the writing. The music is minimal and the vocal performances are restrained. Sawashiro is one of the best of course so we expect her to be as good as she is, but I quite liked relative newcomer Mori’s performance (I suspect she’s quite young). As a teaser of what’s to come it works – I do want to get to know these people better. And the visual palette is the classic post-Brain’s Base Shuka soft pastels and pencil sketch aesthetic. I’m not wowed, but I don’t really think I was supposed to be – the premiere accomplished what it set out to do.

ED: “Kotozute (言伝)” by Bialystocks