Winter 2026 Anime Season and What I’m Watching

We’re rolling from a very good fall anime season right into a very good winter anime season. So let’s get into it!

But first... a recap of the fall season.

My Hero Academia had a good ending. I think some fans thought they’d pair people up in the final episode, which they didn’t do, but according to manga readers there’s an extra chapter set years later that finally has Deku and Uraraka getting together.

The Gintama spinoff was fine. I think it made me miss Gintama more by reminding me that the main series ended years ago. I’m still working my way through A Mangaka’s Weirdly Wonderful Workplace, which was my gentle “when I can get around to it” anime last season.

My favorite series of the fall season was May I Ask for One Final Thing? This insane fantasy where the female main character went around punching evil nobles’ lights out, while being maybe - possibly - romanced by the kingdom’s crown prince, just hit all the right notes for me. I’m also anticipating a sequel since the conclusion of her romance with the crown prince was left as an open question in the final episode.

I’m beginning to recognize that I have patterns in what series appeal to me each season. My series tend to fall into categories: for example, the Big Shonen story (like My Hero Academia), the Nostalgic Favorite (Gintama), the Gentle Beta series (A Mangaka’s Wild Workplace), and the Unexpected Favorite (May I Ask for One Final Thing?).

There are other categories, obviously, but this winter season seems to be following in fall season’s footsteps.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is my Big Shonen story for winter season. This is the second season of the My Hero Academia spinoff. It’s starting out great with cameos from MHA regulars like Eraser Head and Fat Gum. They keep teasing the reappearance of the “ossan,” the Vigilantes member that protagonist Koichi calls his shisho (master). He’s still absent, but I expect we’ll be seeing him soon.

Wash it All Away clearly falls into the Gentle Beta series category. The main character, Kinme, runs a laundry business in the small seaside town of Atami, Japan. It’s slice of life and I have no idea where it’s going as a story - possibly nowhere (a drawback of most slice of life stories). It’s pleasant to watch, so it’s my “when I have the time” series for winter season.

Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord is a fresh take on the usual isekai stuff. I’m wary of isekai stories in general, since most tend to fall into the teenage boy gets reincarnated and becomes a big hero type clichés, but this one has been a lot of fun so far.

From Crunchyroll:

Reborn as a marquis’ fourth son, Van was once hailed as a genius prodigy - until he’s exiled to a nameless frontier village for possessing Production Magic, a useless type of magic in this world. But when he uses his “useless” power to craft weapons, tools, and wonders beyond imagination, the village begins to thrive! What began as exile is now the start of a new life - and a world-changing adventure!

The first few episodes have been really good to watch. I like the fact that the protagonist’s specialty is Production Magic and not Attack Magic or some such.

Oh, Dark Moon is also a lot of fun! And not what I expected from a reverse harem, to be honest.

Sooha is a transfer student into a sus academy, one that only holds classes at night. She seems like an ordinary girl at first, until we see that she has a secret.

She’s been mistaken for a vampire before, due to her super strength. She hates vampires since they killed her only childhood friend.

However... the group of bishonen boys who show up everywhere she’s at in school have their own secret. They’re vampires.

I’m liking this series so far because the heroine is pretty kickass. She joins in the fights along with the boys, unlike the typical reverse harem heroines (Hiiro no Kakera being my eternal example) who simper and back away, even when - according to the plot - they’re immensely powerful due to paranormal gifts or something similar.

If I had to come up with a category for this type of anime, it would be “Bishonen Fest.” So Dark Moon is my Bishonen Fest selection for the winter season.

And finally... the biggest surprise of the season.

I had put this on my “maybe” list at first. Big mistake! I could’ve missed... well... you’ll see in a minute. ;-)

Seiichirou Kondo is an accountant at a Tokyo company when he sees a teenage girl being pulled into a portal to another world. He tries to save her and gets pulled in after her.

It turns out she’s a holy maiden in this other world, and her presence was urgently needed to quell a disaster. The fantasy kingdom is terribly apologetic about Seiichi’s accidental isekai-ing, and promises to take care of his needs for the rest of his life.

Well, Seiichi is thirty years old and used to working, so he wants to work. He gets hired by the royal accounting department, where he proceeds to amaze everyone with his Japanese overworking habits.

The local knight commander, Aresh Indolark, takes note of him as well. Boy, does he.

There’s no indication in the first episode that Isekai Office Worker is going to be anything other than your standard isekai story where an ordinary Japanese person gets sucked into another world and has to adjust. It’s only in episode 2 that we see what this show is REALLY about.

That’s right. It’s a BL story!!

And thus... my Unexpected Favorite of the season. ;-D

What I'm Watching This Spring Anime Season

It’s another good anime season, with four series I’m currently watching.

Let’s get into it. :-)

I’ve been looking forward to Kowloon Generic Romance ever since I heard it was getting made into an anime. It’s an adult romance with a few off-the-wall elements that I didn’t expect.

The story is set in the Kowloon Walled City, a legendary set of buildings in Hong Kong - that’s “legendary” for many reasons.

Custody of the so-named walled city, originally a military fort, was eventually passed from the Qing Dynasty to the British. After WWII, the city got built up as refugees poured into Hong Kong from the Chinese Civil War. Buildings and multiple floors stacked on top of each other until neither the British nor the Chinese dared to police the place.

(I love the fact that the walled city was super densely packed - while two sides of it bordered completely empty lots!)

The anime (based on the manga of the same name) is about the romance of Reiko Kujirai and her co-worker Hajime Kudo. The two work as agents for a realtor that manages apartments in the walled city.

Kowloon Generic Romance has a great period feel in its character designs, and in the look of the walled city and its unique architecture - including the dark dank corridors with unknown liquids dripping from the ceilings.

There’s a central mystery as to the female lead, Reiko. She discovers she’s a dead ringer for Hajime’s ex, to the point where people simply assume that’s who she is. In addition, a strange metal octahedron-shaped structure hovers in the sky. People see it - they know it’s there - but nobody really comments on it, which is odd in and of itself. The structure is called “Gene Terra.”

My second favorite series this season is My Hero Academia: Vigilantes.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is MHA’s more adult spinoff. Set some time before the canon story in MHA begins, its hero is Koichi Haimawari, a nineteen-year-old conbini clerk. Unlike Deku in the main series, Koichi was born with a quirk. His problem is that it’s pretty dorky. He’s able to slide along the sidewalk like a four-legged creature, so long as three of his limbs are touching the ground.

He also needs to find his courage, which he does, along with two new companions. Pop Step is a young female idol who can “pop step” across rooftops. And Knuckleduster is a gruff older guy with a scarred face whose philosophy is to punch first and ask questions later, if at all. All three were not and are not candidates for the hero academy for varying reasons, so they are the next best thing: vigilante heroes with a conscience.

Spinoff series are fun. Characters from the main series make cameo appearances and the familiar setting means you can relate to everything right away. I also appreciate that the characters are adults. It doesn’t go overboard with the adult humor, but the humor is there, and it’s a different feel from the main story’s 16-year-olds and that shounen level of levity.

The final two series are light in tone and fit in the “when I can” category, meaning, I’ll watch them when I can.

Chika Suzugamori is a mangaka. She won an award for her work, but then hits a slump. The publisher rejects her next few manuscripts and she feels like an amateur again.

Slightly desperate, she polls her fans as to where she should journey in Japan for inspiration.

And so, she takes trips throughout the country, alone at first and then with various girlfriends. Zatsu Tabi is one of those gentle, meandering shows, slice of life I guess, which isn’t my favorite kind of anime. But I do enjoy the travelogue aspect and glimpses of the manga publishing life in Japan.

Finally, there is Apocalypse Hotel.

From MyAnimeList:
Many years have passed since humanity vanished from Earth, yet the Galaxy Tower hotel in Ginza, Tokyo, continues to operate. At the center of its staff is Yachiyo, a dedicated hotelier robot, along with other employee robots working tirelessly in various departments. Together, they spend what feels like an eternity maintaining the hotel, despite having no guests. As they await the return of their owner and the day humanity reappears. Now, a small miracle is about to change everything for Yachiyo and her robotic colleagues.

Apocalypse Hotel reminds me of series like Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san, stories where the unusual is the usual everyday reality.

Such premises can result in poignant moments. In the first episode, Yachiyo is shown laying a robot to rest, as they don’t have the parts or expertise to fix him. The next shot is a wide shot, showing that the entire room is full of broken robots - basically, old friends in eternal limbo.

It’s moments like these that keep me coming back to anime, season after season.