So many great new shows in Winter 2026!
After discussing the big hits, let’s now focus on the brand new shows coming out this season. As always, there is a variety of genres and source materials: manga, LNs, games, original series.
Most of the shows have their Episodes 1–2 aired by now. And I have watched the majority of them.
So just as a warning, there might be slight spoilers with regards to what has been shown so far in Episode 1.
Action
Let’s start with an action fantasy series, which is the only classic shonen on the list, I believe.
Sentenced to Be a Hero
The show starts with a one hour episode of stellar animation and action. I would say, the classic three episode rule can be applied here, solely for the season premiere. You either like it, or you don’t. Because the show gives a clear indication on where it’s heading and what it’s going to be about.
This is a shonen with an adult protagonist in a world with holy knights, demonic blights, and pacts with goddesses. My Haikyuu braincell need to stop seeing Kuroo, Hinata, and Yachi in the main cast.
A hero’s role being subverted from something aspiring to a form of punishment for crimes is a nice concept. Especially the not-being-able-to-die twist as a torture part of it.
It’s not as cynic as “heroes bringing destruction and killing bystanders while doing heroic deeds”, and not exactly a case of “worshipped heroes who are actually assholes”.
If anything, this show’s concept of heroes is closer to a misunderstood protagonist trope, or even — in LN terms — a hero being kicked out of their party, then plotting revenge and saving the day. In fact, the whole story of Episode 1 is pretty similar in this regard to Shield Hero, only this time it’s more about the old men government corruption, plotting, backstabbing, and the main lead is unlikely to get a harem around him.
It would be interesting to meet more heroes, just to see how many of them are actual criminals deserving their sentence, and how many were deliberately undermined to get rid of voices of reason in high places.
The animation is truly the highlight here, as it is carrying most of the tension and impact of the scenes. From being chased in the middle of the woods, to saving people, to throwing knives, to getting a whole field battle sequence, to using goddess powers, or choosing not to. Same goes for subtle character animations with constantly moving hair, excitement hops, eye movement, blood wiping, walking while injured, etc.
The art and key animation staff uses some talents that previously worked on Mushoku Tensei Season 1. And it shows — a lot of gorgeous looking frames and sequences, both with the scenery and the characters.
Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of overpowered loli characters asking for head pats, since it’s usually done as a feel-good tidbit and those characters are merely cute mascots for the show. Teoritta fits that description, plus often acts annoying — it’s going to be “waga kishi” every time she talks, isn’t it? — but for now her saving grace is the lore, which makes a point of literally every goddess acting that way, sometimes leading to power overuse and their eventual downfall.
What bothers me more, however, is the lack of subtlety in dialogue. It’s as if the show wants to drop you right into a mess of a situation without prior background knowledge, but then can’t help itself and keeps explaining everything, even repeating information multiple times.
They did great with showing seals as tattoos instead of telling it first, but decided to triple down on the resurrection lore drop. They didn’t explain step by step how pact works and what it means exactly, but then made all the NPC knights’ issues with the main cast sound repetitive throughout the whole episode. They didn’t sit Dotta down and talk about his kleptomania (which is probably why he ended up a hero) or Xylo’s distain for goddesses, but then dumped Xylo’s whole backstory, even highlighting all shady characters responsible for the sentencing.
I’m pretty certain the Temple understands the possibility of corruption affecting goddesses and yearns it for some reason. Yet Xylo managed to unknowingly prevent their plans twice — first with Senerva, now with Teoritta.
The irony is that the Temple kind of screwed themselves over by making Xylo incapable of dying. Because now not only he is a permanent thorn in their side, but a permanent thorn with a goddess and experience of leading an army.
Overall, it gives off a decent — albeit, formulaic — shonen storyline with great production qualities, which could have been executed way better, if the writing was tight and less “explain how you feel out loud”.
Let’s see how it goes from here.
Obviously, every episode cannot be as bombastic as the first one, but that’s to be expected. I dislike doom posting about “how this series is cooked already”, based solely on a screenshot of 17 Assistant Directors listed for Episode 2.
Is it concerning, production-wise? Sure. Is it the end of the world and the show cannot be saved? No.
Episode 1 has also had 14 ADs, yet everyone praises its animation. The animators themselves call the show ambitious and ask for support.
So I’d rather support them and hope for the best.
The Darwin Incident
This is a show that I haven’t started watching yet, so I can only speculate based on reviews and the trailer.
Character designs and coloring strongly remind me of Banana Fish. But after looking through the staff several times, I couldn’t find the connection between the two. Perhaps, it’s a stylistic choice which made sense for the production team and it just so happens to be somewhat similar. Let me know if you have any insights that I missed about this.
The series defines itself as a sci-fi thriller. However, from the looks of it in the trailer, it seems to be closer to social and political commentary. After all, even manga reviews highlight its realistic portrayal of politics and activism.
Going back to the staff list, everyone involved in this project appears to be a veteran with an impressive portfolio of shows in their pocket. I don’t know if we are going to get that much action — even though a plot about terrorist organizations kind of demands it — but either way, the production quality will be solid with a team like that.
The story is set in the United States and follows Charlie — a half-human, half-chimpanzee hybrid. There is a terrorist organization, The Animal Liberation Alliance, that advocates for animal rights. Especially in the world where science went into genetic manipulation. They were the ones who rescued Charlie from the scientists, which is probably how he is able to grow up in society like a human.
Some years later their methods become more radical, and Charlie gets involved in their plotting. I’m expecting moral dilemmas, blurred lines on what it means to be human, some horrible revelations, political scheming with lies and violence on top.
Romance
You and I Are Polar Opposites
Switching it up, we have a school romance adaptation.
Going into this show, I’ve been trying to get a sense of what manga readers in particular appreciate about this title.
The majority praises the series for realistic character depictions and the tropes — while still present — not being overdone. There is no “will they, won’t they” beating around the bush, because the main couple quickly starts going out. Finally, watching the cast grow should be satisfying as well.
My main concern was that the main couple would turn out to be the usual “popular girl loves a loser for no good reason” dynamic. And I am extremely happy to be wrong about this.
On a surface level, Suzuki is indeed a popular girl, but from the get-go the show portrays her deep insecurities. And Tani-kun, despite being a quiet person, does not seem like a loser. No one is bullying him, Suzuki’s friends are even protective of him when she is being a bother.
It’s just characters with pre-disposition — or lack thereof — to socialize.
I like that besides the main couple we get a whole group of characters with their own personalities. They’re all distinct enough, but not too quirky to be annoying. Their reaction to Suzuki being honest about her feelings was the highlight for me. Really made them feel alive and behave like actual good friends would.
Suzuki’s biggest problem is trying to people please everyone, which makes her conceal what she really thinks. Sometimes it’s not an issue — after all, everyone does it to fit in or to avoid hunting someone’s feelings. But to a degree where she actively sabotages herself? That is a problem. Makes me wonder how she ended up this way.
Tani-kun seems to be a smart guy, who is prioritizing his studies. On the first glace, it might appear as if this is why he is a polar opposite of Suzuki. But in actuality, it is his ability to speak his mind to anyone and be upfront about what he thinks is what makes him her opposite. The quality she admires the most.
Which is ironic, considering he makes an exception for her and lets go of her hand to avoid rumors. Meanwhile, Suzuki decides to get out of her shell and speak her mind, both publicly and in private. Truly, the opposites.
This show is not something groundbreaking, but it has expressive characters, who are already not following the rules of a usual high-school romance, and an exceptionally well-made OP:
Strongly recommend checking out kvin’s full thread on X.
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk
This story is more of a shoujo series with pretty looking characters. It has been a successful manga that I’ve seen recommended a lot.
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Upon reading all available volumes in English, I can confirm that it is a romantic feel good story about a relationship between an androgynous looking girl with boyish attractiveness and “prince” reputation and a guy who does as he pleases without a care of what people would say.
The appealing part of the story is how the main couple gets together without drama and helps one another improve. He could use some discipline, she could use someone acknowledging her femininity.
However, with this type of a story not much is actually happening, and it doesn’t help that the manga is not really trying to get out of the usual school romance routine. So there will be a combination of cheesy shoujo tropes: school festivals, rich carefree characters, caring female lead who gets flustered often, wall-pins, other characters used as plot-devices for the main couple, and so on.
The anime adaptation is done by East Fish Studio, which is the same company who worked on A Condition Called Love — another shoujo which had a nice premise and decent manga rating, yet fumbled hard as an anime.
All of this to say that we get a good looking anime, but it’s only worth watching if you’re willing to except some shallow modern shoujo tropes for the sake of moments of good character chemistry.
Harem
Tune In to the Midnight Heart
From shoujo romance let’s dive into a comedic harem genre. This time with a bit of a showbiz flavor.
First, we need to talk about the premise, because it’s actually a fun one.
Somewhere during his middle-school, the MC — Yamabuki-kun — finds himself addicted to a podcast. The girl who casted it wasn’t all that popular, she just wanted to share her own struggles of school life, basically doing what “Just Chatting” category of Twitch streams does.
At times he was the only listener, so occasionally they ended up talking to each other directly. He loved both her voice and her personality, and so based on the clues she left him — a type of school she wanted to get into, her future professional dreams, etc. — he starts his high-school days like a guy on a mission with the sole purpose of finding her.
The issue is that the broadcasting club of this school has four girls, and each of them has a voice similar to that podcaster. It could be the tone, or the laugh, or the phrasing, or the mannerisms — but there is always something that makes him guessing.
Of course, none of them admit being that podcaster. But the similarities are too uncanny, so they are definitely hiding something. And so the story goes on with the guy trying to solve the mystery while also becoming the member of the club, getting to know each girl, and helping them achieve their dreams, be it voice acting, singing, vtuber streaming, or radio show casting.
Now, as someone who is anime only, I did not realize that even Episode 1 had censored some of the manga panels. It makes sense for harem manga to have somewhat fanservice panels for each heroine to make them more appealing. But looks like the show is trying to be more mainstream, so it leans on its mystery and comedic aspects, while downplaying the character appeal.
In general, manga readers praise the protagonist for not being a boring insert character with no personality. As well as the story giving each character their moments to shine, instead of establishing the main couple and making the rest seem like a background noise with quirks.
And I can definitely see where the praise is coming from. However, the humor of having an over-the-top character as a protagonist must click with you to fully enjoy the series. So far, I find him funny at times, but mostly just annoying.
Last season people thought Chitose from Chiramune was very annoying and, you know what, I disagree. The guy had some cheesy lines, of course, but Yamabuki from the get-go is straight up obnoxious. For comedic relief, of course, but so far the girls are the highlight and, to be fair, unlike Chiramune, I’m glad they have their own goals and do not care about Yamabuki just yet. At least not until he actually does something to change their mind about him being a brat.
Let’s see if he can become an endearing brat.
As for the main mystery, my theory is quite simple. I bet all four of these girls are that podcaster — it was probably a friend group project. They picked days to decide who is going to cast. And this is the reason as to why they all sound similar to that voice and why it is so hard to figure out which one casted it.
If I’m right about this, the moment of realization will be on another level of awkwardness. Because it means he confessed to one of them. And they knew he was looking for that caster, yet all pretended to not know what he was talking about.
Unfortunately, we won’t see the answer adapted this season. Because the manga is still ongoing and, I believe, even manga readers do not know who the mystery podcaster is yet.
Drama
Journal with Witch
This show is hands down the best drama of the season. It is a story that deals with mature themes, realistic setting, and doesn’t spoon-feed exposition to its viewers.
The main character, Takumi Asa, is a teenage girl whose parents died in a car accident. As always in the situations like that, all of the relatives come together, pity her, and play a game of hot potato to decide who can take her in. Because, despite being related to her, it’s not like everyone is willing to take on another child.
The only one who doesn’t pity her, but also doesn’t trample over her own feelings, is her aunt Makio. She is the sister of Asa’s late mother, and, apparently, the two hated each other. So, while Makio is unable to bring herself to be sad about the situation for too long, she understands that Asa-chan is unrelated to their old family drama and it must be a horrible turn of events for her.
The show does a great job to show how Asa is sometimes forgetting where she is or what she is doing, because she is still processing the loss. And sudden loneliness that seems overwhelming and obsolete is trying to swallow her whole, like quick sand. Which is exactly why Makio is such an awesome character to pair up with her.
Makio is a writer, who is used to living alone, working at weird hours, not exactly taking a good care of herself. But the nature of being a writer makes her capable of understanding others, even if their struggles are not something she is feeling herself. So she gives good advice, she is not afraid to speak hard truths, she doesn’t run from the topic itself. Which helps Asa to have an anchor, to ground herself, to work through her trauma.
In turn, Asa is used to live in a loving family with proper food, sleep, and taking care of each other. So what she brings to the table, is the ability to turn Makio’s house into a home for the both of them. I am sure it will only be a positive for both of them.
Besides the story itself, the production quality deserves attention. Because the cinematography is great, the sound design elevates the story bits, and each character expression tells you how conflicted they are at times without the need to spell it out loud.
The series is dialogue heavy, theme heavy, and — to a surprise of no one — very character-centric. I’ve seen it being compared to Punpun sometimes. Only less depressing version of it, despite dealing with death.
Looking forward to see how the story unfolds from here.
Mystery
The Holy Grail of Eris
This show was a bit of rollercoaster with the way I approached it.
The trailer itself didn’t show much besides the classic 19th century Britain and a premise that has potential, but could also turn out rather generic, depending on its execution.
Manga reviews promise a mystery plot with both the protagonist and the dead victim becoming detectives to solve the victim’s case. There is no romance, no magic, no fantasy elements — just wit and deduction, which sounds amazing. The fact that the story managed to pack it all into a villainess genre is also fascinating, purely because it’s creative and would inevitably help the show with gaining audience.
Having said all of that, Episode 1 turned out to be on a generic side of things. We get the victim’s gruesome death, a classic villainess starting scene, and a shy protagonist who gets possessed by the victim’s ghost.
Sure, the contrast between the two works, but every other shown character is a caricature, a plot device, or both. Hopefully, the show picks up and gets intriguing when we get to the details of the victim’s past. Thus far it has only given us the basic premise of two ladies forming an alliance of sorts and establishing the main goal.
All in all, three episode rule applies here.
Fairy tale
Champignon Witch
This show is the closest thing to a classic old-school fairytale in both the narrative and its visual presentation.
It’s a fantasy setting about a particular witch living in seclusion. And there are no modern anime tropes — it’s not an isekai, there is no adventure guild or party forming, the witch doesn’t even want to do anything with the royal family.
Just chill folklore vibes about this one witch living her life with abilities she didn’t even choose, only having some familiars to keep her company.
Sometimes she goes into a town nearby. She gets Emilia from Re:Zero treatment, because everywhere she goes, poisonous mushrooms grow. Hence the name — Champignon Witch. There is a twist with regards to what she does in town and how her abilities work.
There is also an issue of loneliness. After years of being mostly alone, she seeks human connection. And the story begins with her trying to establish one.
While Episode 1 had romance and drama aspects to it, I’m not sure where the story goes from here, besides a couple of fairly obvious problems on the horizon.
Regardless, the watercolor aesthetic works wonders to create this lighthearted fairy tale atmosphere. Creatures, abilities, and magic itself are very intriguing. Really hoping to get more worldbuilding and lore tidbits. If I had to compare the feeling I get from this series, I’d say it reminds me of Season 1 of Ancient Magus’ Bride.
Not all of the seasonal shows have started airing yet. Moreover, not all of the ones that did I managed to watch yet. But I hope that this list has showcased at least something you weren’t sure about checking out.
Next time, I’m covering some more manga and LN adaptations (for example, Shiboyugi), original titles that aren’t out yet, a couple worthy mentions that might interest someone, even though I’m not planning to watch those. And a quick overview of what we get in shoujo, GL, BL department, because this season has truly brought us everything.
