Spring 2026 Anime I've Been Watching
The time has come, once again, for a new season of anime! Since the way I listed the anime I watched last season went pretty well, I'm doing it the same way now: waiting until the anime I plan to watch start airing and giving my first impressions of them! Who knows? I may even give some of them full reviews in the future! (I did so for Mayonaka Heart Tune, at least.) This season has a lot of stuff that seemed like at least a decent watch to me, and I had to hold myself back from adding more to my plate; this still resulted in a higher number of anime I'm watching this season compared to last season, with most of them being brand new anime. Only one of the anime I'm watching is a sequel (though it would have been two if I had just gotten around to watching season one of Farming Life in Another World like I planned to), and another one is one that's continuing from last season. That anime, Ganso! Bandori-chan, entered its third quarter of a year-long run this season, and my feelings for it from last season haven't changed at all; thus, I'm skipping it this time around. (I will say, though, that I hope that Mugendai Mewtype shows up in the series before their own anime comes out in July!) Now, with that said, let's get to it!
1. I Want To End This Love Game
We are starting off with the anime that started its run the latest out of the anime I'm watching (although it's not the one I started last). I'll start this with what I said as a joke on the first episode's discussion forum on AniList.
Seriously, I first heard about the manga this anime was based on back when Viz announced that they had licensed it, and I became interested in it because of how much the premise reminded me of "Kaguya-sama: Love Is War", which is an anime I've gotten a lot of entertainment out of; thus, when the anime adaptation was announced, I was up for giving it a go! Now that I've seen the first episode, I will say that the argument could be made that I Want To End This Love Game is the poor man's Kaguya-sama; the CGI animation that Felix Film uses at times is very off-putting (although the 2-D animation is okay), and the mind games that Yukiya and Miku play on each other arguably aren't as in-depth as the ones Miyuki and Kaguya play on each other. That being said, Yukiya and Miku have a uniquely fun chemistry that I'm pretty sure lends itself to them being childhood friends who've been at this "I Love You" game for years, and I look forward to seeing more of their antics.
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I'm embarrassed to admit that while I did plan to watch Akane-banashi before it came out, I didn't actually get around to it until after two episodes had already aired; by the time I finally got around to it, all of the other anime I planned on watching had already premiered. The reason for this is that I thought the official YouTube release was only going to be for episode 1 and that I had to wait until May to get the rest of the series on Netflix; then, the second episode came out on YouTube, and I was like, "Okay, I don't think I'll have to wait after all!" (Just wait until the official Akane-banashi YouTube channel doesn't upload episode three.) Anyway, I had heard good things about the manga before, but I'm simply blown away by how incredible of a job the folks at ZEXCS are doing with the anime! Despite how much of a struggle rakugo can be, as the series makes clear, it also makes it look kind of fun; I'm a little tempted to try it myself! Whether I do or not, though, you can bet that I'll be watching Akane-banashi to the end, as well as reading the manga at some point!
(Also, shout-out to that one person in the comments section of the first episode who was inspired to try rakugo because of the manga and said something about doing a show at Anime Weekend Atlanta. Good for you!)
This is the fourth of Takako Shimura's manga to get an anime adaptation (not counting the manga adaptation of Battery that she drew), and admittedly, this is probably the second worst of the four. That's not exactly a point against Awajima Hyakkei, though, since I really loved Aoi Hana and Hourou Musuko (although the manga for the latter did get a little worse as it went on). The first two episodes of Awajima Hyakkei were a lovely enough time, but I don't see myself getting too invested in some of the characters. Also, what the heck is some of these girls' problem, treating their peers the way they do? Like, seriously.
4. I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class
Can I just say that I love what Umi and Maki have got in the first two episodes? They're just hanging out, eating pizza, playing video games, watching B-grade movies, and enjoying their time together; I don't care if I'm being a third wheel to their eventual romance, because I want to join in! All that aside, I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class (light novel titles strike again) isn't the most interesting thing in the world overall, and the animation isn't all that great (although I have never really expected high-quality animation from CONNECT). Still, my interest in Umi and Maki's relationship is enough to carry me the rest of the way through; hopefully, if they get together before the season ends, their romantic relationship will prove to be as good as their friendship!
Can I adopt Nakamura, please?
Seriously, this anime is so adorable, and Nakamura is such a delight of a main character to follow; I love him like a son! His attempts to get closer to Hirose are just really cute, and although he definitely has romantic feelings for him, it's nice that he's happy with being friends with him! Hirose himself isn't quite as interesting of a character, but he's definitely nice enough that I feel comfortable with rooting for Nakamura to get closer to him. I also think that anyone with a crush, same-sex or not, will be able to relate to the struggles Nakamura goes through. Overall, this anime is a delight, and I look forward to seeing more!
Also, to those of you who bullied the original manga artist off of Twitter over some of the things she depicted in her manga (that aren't quite as bad as you say they are, although the tentacle thing is slightly strange), I hope you get ink sprayed into your eyes by an octopus.
6. Haibara's Teenage New Game+
Out of all of the anime I'm watching this season, my reason for deciding to give this one a shot is the fuzziest in my mind. I guess I liked the visual of Hikari standing with the sakura trees? I liked the fact that the term "New Game Plus" was used in the English title? I have had thoughts of wanting to redo parts of my life and wanted to live vicariously through Haibara, who gets to just that? Whatever the reason, there's one thing I know for sure; Haibara's Teenage New Game+ is nothing special. The whole "redoing your youth" thing was done better in series like "ReLIFE", and none of the characters are all that interesting. Still, it's far from the worst thing I've ever seen, so I'll be sticking this one out.
7. Ascendance of a Bookworm: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke
First of all, whoever decided it was a good idea to use generative AI for the opening theme also deserves to get ink sprayed into their eyes by an octopus. Seriously, Wit Studio was already on thin ice with me for the apparent NFT shilling in Kizuna no Allele, but this? This is really going to kill their credibility!
Second....I don't know. Maybe it's just that it's been a while since I last watched Ascendance of a Bookworm, but something just feels off about this season. I've been hearing some things about content from the original light novels being skipped, and it does kind of feel like the pacing is a little off. Still, I've gotten this far into the series, and I'm still getting some enjoyment out of it; I'll stick with it until the end.
8. Ichijouma Mankitsu Gurashi!
Not gonna lie, I kind of hate this one so far. The bit where Rie thinks Meiko is this manga artist with a similar name is killing me inside, especially since Meiko clearly explains to her that she's not and Rie just interprets what she says completely wrong, and none of the other jokes the first episode tells are funny, either. I seriously considered dropping this after episode 1, but I had already dropped another anime at that point (we'll get to that later); I really didn't want there to be two anime I dropped this season. Well, maybe it'll get better as the series goes on? I hope? God, I don't know. At least it's only going to have 11 episodes instead of 12 or 13.
"You and I Are Polar Opposites" fans like myself have to wait until July before season two of that series comes out, so it's nice that we can get an anime adaptation of Koucha Agasawa to tide us over until then. Koori no Jouheki isn't quite as cute or funny as that, but I'd be lying if I said it was bad at all. Studio KAI's animation is decent enough (even if the whole insolvency thing kind of puts the studio's future in jeopardy), and there are some interesting dynamics being set up here; I really like Koyuki and Miki's friendship, in particular. Koori no Jouheki's YouTube channel (if it has one) may not be posting its episodes on YouTube for international viewers, but hey, at least Netflix isn't keeping us waiting for new episodes!
10. Liar Game
Man, I really wanted to like Liar Game. It's based on a fairly well-regarded manga, and the concept is pretty interesting. However, so far, Liar Game hasn't really been all that good. The story's pacing feels a little off, the art and animation are kind of mediocre, and while I appreciate her honesty, Nao is a kind of annoying protagonist. That being said, though, I will continue watching this; I hear it's a slow burn kind of story, so I'm sure that the story will get better as time goes on. Then again, though, maybe I'm better off reading the manga or watching the live-action adaptation.
11. Mahou no Shimai LuluttoLily
With Princess-Session Orchestra finally done, I really could use another magical girl anime to watch each week; luckily, Mahou no Shimai LuluttoLily has got me covered. It's not a great magical girl anime, but it's cute enough that I can't complain about it. One thing, though; I feel like it might be trying a little too hard to recapture the magic (no pun intended) of the previous Pierrot Magical Girl Series anime, especially Creamy Mami. I haven't seen any of those previous anime, though, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!
12. The Food Diary of Miss Maid
If I recall correctly, there's never been another anime that has done a flat-out speedpaint for its ending theme visuals, and I love it.
Eat your hearts out, AI bros; actually showing the process of a human drawing an anime girl allowed for a unique ending sequence for an anime.
All that aside, though, I'm not sure if I would say The Food Diary of Miss Maid is anything special, but it's a cute series with a pretty likable main character. Plus, you get to see some pretty good anime food!
13. MARRIAGETOXIN
Kyoto Animation is my favorite anime studio, and it's not even a contest; however, I sometimes consider Bones a distant second, and the incredible production values shown in Marriagetoxin is a good demonstration of why. (I know, production work is being done by Bones Film, but like, it's still Bones, right?) Even with that aside, I'm having a good time with this so far. I'm a little worried about the whole plot of Gero trying to find a wife being stretched out too far, but hey, at least we also get some cool action to watch, right?
14. Killed Again, Mr. Detective?
I know, Crunchyroll uses a period for the end of the title instead of a question mark. I do not agree with this decision; it carries a different implication than a question mark would. If anyone catches me using a period instead of a question mark, please just shoot me; I don't even care if I don't come back to life like the main character can. Anyway, apart from that aforementioned gimmick, this is a pretty standard detective anime, but I've been finding myself enjoying it a surprising amount. The first two episodes set up a pretty interesting mystery that I'm not sure will ever get solved, but those who really like detective stories may get a kick out of this nonetheless!
I'm going to lose at least one of the three people reading this blog post when I say this, but....well, you know how I said earlier that there was an anime that I dropped this season? Yeah, this was it. I'm disappointed, as I really wanted to like this; the game it's based on is pretty well-regarded, and I've played through some of the songs from it a few times on D4DJ Groovy Mix. However, the first two episodes were just boring and overly preachy while also being a little overstimulating; I also didn't care about any of the characters, not even OMGkawaiiAngel herself. I did give it two episodes before I made the decision to drop it, though, so there's that, at least. I was in a bad mood when I watched the first episode, so I thought that that might have affected my feelings; when I watched the second episode when I was in a better mood and still didn't like it, though, I made the decision to just cut my losses. Oh, well. Maybe I should just play the game at some point instead.
16. Even a Replica Can Fall in Love
I really don't know how to feel about Sunao Aikawa. On one hand, I really hate how she treats Nao, but on the other hand, she clearly has severe depression, which would explain her behavior. I want to say that her depression doesn't excuse her behavior, yet I feel like if I say that, I'd come across as dismissive toward actual people who have depression as bad as Sunao does. Either way....yeah, this one is just okay. The white border is a very strange stylistic choice, and I'm not sure why the folks at Voil are doing it this way; someone theorized somewhere that it might have something to do with how Nao sees the world, but if that's the case, why is the white border still there in scenes Nao isn't in, such as the last scene in episode 1? I don't get it.
17. Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring
Okay, who here only started watching this because it's based on a light novel from the same author as Violet Evergarden? I absolutely loved that anime, so naturally, I was going to give this a go; it helps that the premise seems unique and interesting. Admittedly, the way the story is presented is a tad confusing, but I think I'm getting the gist of it bit by bit. Hopefully, things will become much clearer as time goes on.
And no, Wit Studio, the fact that you're also working on this does not excuse you using AI to cut corners with Ascendance of a Bookworm's opening sequence. Seriously, guys, do better.
Finally, we have what is unquestionably the most popular new anime this season, Witch Hat Atelier. Seriously, everyone and their mother was excited for this one, and given how I'd heard great things about the manga it's based on, it's safe to say I was, too. Unsurprisingly, this anime is such a delight so far; I love Coco as a main character, the story is simple yet effective, and the animation is absolutely stellar! I haven't even found any shortcuts Bug Films may have taken regarding that last part, so I think it's safe to assume we're not going to have another Zom 100 situation, which is great to see! I do think Agott is kind of a b*tch so far, but I can see her getting some character growth later on; I would also like to see some more focus be put on the other witches as time goes on so that we can know them as characters more. Overall, Witch Hat Atelier is off to a great start, and I'd implore the few people who hasn't already given it a go to do so!
Aaaaaand that's all of them! Overall, I've got a decent line-up of anime to get through this season, with a few that I might even give full reviews of when they end. If that's not enough anime for you, there are a lot of others that I thought about watching this season but ended up not getting to; hopefully, anyone who's watching them will be able to enjoy them in my stead! The same sentiment goes for those watching the many sequels for anime I'm not caught up on....
....including Rent-A-Girlfriend.
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