Spring 2026 is an interesting season – maybe a bit of an odd duck. My first reaction is that it’s “normal” – pretty good, even. But what stands out to me is that almost a month in, only five series are locked in for coverage. It won’t end up that way, but that’s still strikingly low. We have a lot of stuff more or less on the bubble and not much that’s really exceptional. We also don’t have that one (or two, if we’re lucky) series that immediately jumps out as exceptional, an AotY candidate.

That more or less aligns with my growing conviction that what the current production landscape has created is an environment with more good anime and less great anime. We have production committees keen to make more shows than ever but allergic to risk. We have Netflix, in their hard-to-pin down bubble. More LN adaptations than ever. We have, in the end, 60 or more (sometimes a lot more) series every season with a large majority of them in very safe, formulaic boxes. Ergo, more opportunities for good anime but less ambition to make great ones.

Given all that it’s not surprising that by far the largest category in the check-in is “Still Watching”. Two “Outstanding” and three “very Good” is meh – not terrible, nothing special. Nothing in the top category (not that unusual). As for sleepers, it’s a mixed bag. Kujima Utaeba Ie Hororo  has been all that I expected but I haven’t been able to click with Kirio Fanclub (Episode 2 was the only one that really connected comedically or intellectually). On the other hand there have been a couple of pleasantly surprising overperformers (as there almost always are) – including a romcom that actually wasn’t part of my romcom sleeper “field” pick.

The Patron Pick ballot is always easier to compile in middle-heavy seasons like this one. The bigger the bubble, the less I have to reach to find stuff to include.

 

Onward, then, to Spring 2026:

The Elite

None

 

Outstanding

Yomi no Tsugai
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A-
Comments: Even though I hadn’t read any of the manga I felt like I new pretty much what to expect here given the Arakawa-Bones-Andou axis behind Demons of the Shadow Realm. And it’s delivered. The production and direction are spotless, as you’d expect. The story is unspooling at a leisurely pace which reflects the confidence of the mangaka. Everything is as it should be and there’s no reason not to expect Yomi no Tsugai to be an anchor for the schedule for the next two seasons (and eventually beyond).

Mairimashita! Iruma-kun 4th Season
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A-
Comments: Of course I did know what to expect here, reflecting a different sort of sakuga than with Yomi no Tsugai. Iruma-kun is pretty much incapable of not being entertaining and lovable, so there’s no surprises there. But overall I feel like this music festival arc has a chance to be overall more engaging than the third season, and I like the “addition” of Purson as a member of the main cast. The only mystery is whether this will be the second Iruma-kun season to crack the year-end Top 10.

 

Very Good

Kujima Utaeba Ie Hororo  
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B+
Comments: Still more sasuga of a different variety with Kujima Utaeba Ie Hororo. I had absolutely no exposure to the material here and the staff and studio weren’t much of a tell. But somehow I knew which niche it would fill, knew it would be weird and quirky and very Japanese. And be generally ignored by English language audiences. It was my top sleeper of the season and Kujima hasn’t disappointed. Kouzuki Yuria’s performance as the weird titular bird thing has been divisive but I quite like it, and the overall combo of strangeness and heart just scratches “that” itch.

Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!! 
Episodes Watched: 5
Grade: B
Comments: I’m quite pleased with the first half or so of this series. The controversy surrounded it, however, has been a drag. One of the things that endears the series to me is that it tackles male-male romcom without indulging in subgenre tropes. Apparently that isn’t wholly true of the manga, which has had the unhappy consequence of leaving manga readers pissed that they’ve been toned down and muggles outraged upon discovering those elements exist in the manga. It’s gotten bad enough that mangaka Syundei fled social media, which is a real shame. I just like that Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!! is a goofy look at teens making a mess of romance, and the rest of it doesn’t much matter to me.

Kami no Shizuku
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: The Drops of God has me buying wine for the first time in years, a dangerous development. I’ll never claim that this is an impressive production and I know it’s rushing through the source material at breakneck speed. But I love wine and I love anime – Kami no Shizuku is speaking to me. I’m in the cross-hairs and there’s just no escape. I only hope it can manage to do the manga’s drama some semblance of justice in a mere 24 episodes, when it’s adapting 44 volumes.

 

Worthwhile

Mao  
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B
Comments: As with Yomi no Tsugai we have an adaptation from a legendary mangaka in no hurry to show their cards, which is fine with me. I don’t find Mao as engaging as that series, but after a so-so start my interest level has ticked up, and the fourth episode was probably the best so far. It’s Rumiko and would never be mistaken for anything else, and there are a fair few nods to Inuyasha in the premise. But it’s interesting and may have some significant potential as a slow-burner.

Otaku ni Yasashii Gal wa Inai!?
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: An eyebrow-raiser to put Otaku ni Yasashii Gal wa Inai!? near the top of this category, no doubt. But I’ve already ranted about why I hate the term “guilty pleasure” and if I ask myself honestly which series in this group I’m enjoying the most, it’s this one. There are other criteria that are equally valid by which it would have placed lower, but that’s what I decided to go with. And I genuinely do like Otagal a fair bit. It’s honest, good-hearted, genuinely funny and the main trio are all very winning. Of all this season’s modest-expectations romcom, this is the one I like the best so far.

Koori no Jouheki  
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B
Comments: I don’t like The Ramparts of Ice as much as I’d like, to be honest. I do admire it, and the fact that Agasawa Koucha writes interesting teens with complex personalities and problems. But this series has more reliance on tropes than her other, Seihantai na Kimi to Boku. It’s also perceptibly trying harder despite having a more restrained tone, not always to its benefit. I still feel like there’s another gear here, and that the adaptation may find it. If so it’s going to be higher in my rankings by the end of the season.

Hidarikiki no Eren
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: Eren the Southpaw is one of those overperformers I talked about. It came from pretty far off my radar – I did preview it but it was on the cut line. But I find it really interesting thematically and very well-directed by veteran Suzuki Toshimasa. There’s a lot going on here. The series takes a deep dive on the creative process, as well as the dynamics of the Japanese workplace. Most fundamentally though I think it’s about being average in a field where exceptionalism is paramount. All in all it paints a pretty depressing picture (pun intended), but I find Hidarikiki no Eren quite compelling.

Akane-banashi
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: In pure directorial terms Akane-banashi is certainly the less accomplished of Watanabe Ayumu’s two high-profile manga adaptations this season. But it’s surviving the transition to anime better than Tongari Boushi no Atelier, for me at least. The problems I have with the writing aren’t going away, and the anime so far is taking a pretty linear approach to the material. But there’s probably enough interesting stuff around the margins in Akane-banashi to hold my interest.

Kami no Niwatsuki Kusunoki-tei
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B-
Comments: Here’s the one show in the check-in I haven’t covered (though I didn’t preview Otagal). A humble little entry it is, too – a low-cost LN adaptation – but I gotta be honest, I really like it. I actually gave the premiere a shot out of curiosity about Miyu Irino’s (excellent) OP (I don’t think he’s ever sang a theme for a series he didn’t appear in). It’s another “that niche” sort of deal – Shinto, lots of warm slice-of-life. It also has a great cast of seiyuu legends in the various Kami and youkai roles. It’s nice to have one good series per season that I watch and don’t cover (though I’m giving some of you the chance to change that).

 

Still Watching

Nippon Sangoku
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: In my most recent write-up on Nippon Sangoku I said it was a serious story peopled by unserious characters. And that, in essence, is the issue I have with it (there are increasing hints of the nationalistic politics I feared but nothing egregious – yet). It’s a pretty interesting premise and visually speaking possibly the most inventive show of the season – though not every trick and flourish is working for me. The writing is way too broad to show all that off to best effect, though, and that’s not the sort of thing that seems likely to change.

Marriagetoxin
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
Comments: I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for more from Marriagetoxin, given that it’s Bones and distinctly weird. Some of the individual elements do work but I’m finding they don’t add up to much. Yes, I absolutely want more from this series because it looks great and it’s very much in its own lane.

Class de 2-banme ni Kawaii Onnanoko to Tomodachi ni Natta
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
Comments: There’s an awful lot of thematic overlap between Class de 2-banme ni Kawaii Onnanoko to Tomodachi ni Natta and Otagal. Both focus on loner protagonists befriended by two popular girls in class. And both do so in pretty straightforward and charming ways, but I do enjoy Otagal more – the characters are just that little bit more likable and the situation comedy a little sharper.

Tongari Boushi no Atelier
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: C+
Comments: I don’t know if it would be truthful to say Atelier of Witch Hat is my biggest disappointment of the season. I knew going in that the manga was nothing special in terms of writing, but given how visually striking it is and that Watanabe Ayumu was directing (and that I stopped reading relatively early), I was at least hopeful it would surprise me. Instead I like it less in anime form. The key seiyuu performances just don’t work for me and the elements – and characters – that always annoyed me annoy me more on the screen. Meanwhile Magus of the Library sits out there unadapted…

Aishiteru Game wo Owarasetai.
Episodes Watched: 2
Grade: C+
Comments: Another from the field entry of romcoms this season. Aishiteru Game is perfectly pleasant and inoffensive, and there are some cute moments. Not too many funny ones though, at least so far.

Awajima Hyakkei 
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C
Comments: I guess it would be impossible for Asaka Morio to direct an adaptation of a Shimura Takako manga and not have it be at least intermittently interesting. I’m not much invested in Awajima Hyakkei as a whole but there have been individual chapters that held my interest, and the multi-generational approach to storytelling is at least not cookie-cutter. Shimura’s character designs are always perfect and Asaka has a signature visual style that dovetails well with her, but the whole is less than the sum of the parts for me.

Kirio Fanclub 
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: C
Comments: The sleeper that stayed asleep, at least for me. The second episode was interesting and funny enough to have kept me around hoping for more like it, but so far that hasn’t been rewarded. Kirio Fanclub gets weird points, but that’s about it.

 

Dropped:

Liar Game, Dandelion, Ponkotsu Fuuki Iin to Skirt-take ga Futekisetsu na JK no Hanashi

 

Here, then, is this season’s blogging prospectus:

Monday:
On the Respirator:: Tongari Boushi no Atelier

Tuesday:
Probably Blogging: Hidarikiki no Eren
On the Bubble: Marriagetoxin 

Wednesday:
Definitely Blogging: Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!
Probably Blogging: Otaku ni Yasashii Gal wa inai!? 

Thursday:
Definitely Blogging: Kujima Utaeba Ie Hororo
Probably Blogging: Koori no Jouheki

Friday:
Definitely Blogging: Mairmiashita! Iruma-kun 4th Season, Kami no Shizuku

Saturday:
Definitely Blogging: Yomi no Tsukgai,  Mao
On the Bubble: Akane-Banashi

Sunday:
On the Bubble: Nippon Sangoku

Watching For Now: Kami no Niwatsuki Kusunoki-tei, Aishiteru Game wo Owarasetai, Class de 2-banme ni Kawaii Onnanoko to Tomodachi ni Natta, Awajima Hyakkei, Kirio Fanclub

Patron Pick Ballot: Kami no Niwatsuki Kusunoki-tei, Marriagetoxin, Nippon Sangoku, Aishiteru Game wo Owarasetai, Class de 2-banme ni Kawaii Onnanoko to Tomodachi ni Natta

 

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