Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 7-10

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: I don’t know why I said I’d write a first impression for Rooster Fighter in the intro to the last check-in post. Maybe I was on drugs – though certainly not as big a dose as I’d need to enjoy the show itself (as befitting an Adult Swim series). It’s just the three regulars plus Ganglion, then, with thoughts on a bunch of episodes crammed into only a handful of paragraphs. The Spring Preview takes priority, I’m afraid – it ought to go up in four days or so, so be on the lookout for that as the winter season begins to wind down.

You and I Are Polar Opposites – 7-9

I’m beginning to get fatigued of all these socially anxious anime characters who find a friend group and learn to express themselves. Polar Opposites’ representative in that field is Nishi, Tani’s co-worker in the library after school – she’s twice as quiet as he is, so the show’s primary strength (conversation) hardly applies to her. Of these three episodes, Nishi only appeared in number 7, and it was a warranted appearance, resolving her encounter with Yamada during the previous episode’s culture festival. Still, she’s my least favorite of the show’s otherwise fun cast – thankfully, the other two weeks in this batch were primarily concerned with our main couple, especially when Tani’s birthday rolled around. Teenage staples like falling asleep on a phone call and celebrating with store-bought cakes brought a smile to my face, but the funniest moment of all came at the very end of episode 9, when Suzuki terastallized in excitement after kissing her boyfriend goodnight. As for the show’s secondary couple, their non-relationship underwent a bit of a stress test the week beforehand, as Taira insisted that Azuma discard her nonchalant persona and “get angry” over her middle school friends’ poor treatment of her. I’m still not sure how I feel about his phrasing, but it made for a sharp change of pace.

Continue reading “Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 7-10” →

Guest Post: Unearthed Treasures with Firechick: ToHeart (1999) (78/100)

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Special Articles

ToHeart is an interesting beast. It’s considered the second non-Hentai anime adaptation of a visual novel, only beaten out by the very first one, Nightwalker: Midnight Detective, which came out in the summer of 1998. The original game was an 18+ eroge and didn’t have as much of a marketing push as previous VN adaptations, but the 1999 anime would go on to be pretty popular, selling 10,000 copies in terms of home video sales, which was considered successful back then. It even managed to get an English dub and DVD release in the US a few years later, and even got a sequel series, ToHeart: Remember My Memories, though I’ve heard said sequel isn’t very good. I did watch the first episode of ToHeart on a whim years ago, but child me thought it was dreadfully boring and dropped it. My tastes have evolved quite a bit since then, and in light of the original game getting a remake that came out this year, albeit based on the all-ages version, I decided to go back and revisit it with fresh eyes. Man, child me was an idiot, because even if it’s not the most faithful adaptation of the game, ToHeart the anime is surprisingly good, and has aged a lot better than one would think.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Unearthed Treasures with Firechick: ToHeart (1999) (78/100)” →

Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 4-6

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: I know this column is about currently airing anime, but have you all seen the surplus of cool shows set to debut next month? Our spring season preview is going to be packed (by my standards), and that’s without counting mid-March premieres like Steel Ball Run and Rooster Fighter (which should show up in a future post this March). Ikoku Nikki is holding me down this winter, and I can easily envision a future where it retroactively outclasses every new spring series, but I’ve got to say, I haven’t been this optimistic about an upcoming crop of anime in a long time. That’s not what you’re here for, though – read on for my thoughts on the usual suspects, plus one new show before the jump.

Oneechan Gokko – 1

I’m not exactly tapped in to the world of indie anime, but the YouTube series Oneechan Gokko (produced at the fledgling Studio Gohan) still found its way onto my desk somehow, and I’m glad it did, as its first episode was much more polished than expected. It doesn’t move at the same speed as a mainstream seasonal anime, but scenes of the main character Akane jogging home from school or riding a bike are still plenty immersive thanks to detailed lighting and autumnal background art. Given the season, red, yellow and brown are the dominant colors here, with Akane’s green-haired sister Sui serving as an exception to the series’ visual palette. That nonconformity makes sense on several levels, because she may be more (or less) than she seems – at several points during this episode, Akane receives phone calls from someone claiming to be the real Sui, who claims that the girl in her house is an impostor. Oneechan Gokko is set in the future, with service robots having been partially integrated into society, so we may be headed toward a “machine supplanting man” theme – one with spooky overtones, as Gokko’s presentation takes that tack at several points (especially in its closing minutes). You can watch the first episode [here] to see whether it sucks you in – just know that the follow-up won’t be out for several months.

Continue reading “Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 4-6” →

2025 Anime Awards and Top 10 List

by SuperWooper, posted in Yearly Summaries

Mario: It’s amazing to think that we are more than halfway through this decade, and even though each of us writers is swamped with our current busy lives, here we are with another year of anime under our belts. As if to reflect the current anxiety of the real world, 2025 produced several shows with “Apocalypse” or “End of the World” in their titles or premises. We also received many sequels from heavy-hitting franchises, some of which we’ll be giving our thoughts on below. Anime that debuted this year didn’t fare too badly either, and surprise, surprise, isekai was still as popular as ever (though there’s not much of that after the jump). Come sit at our table where we voted, discussed, broke some ties, and delivered to you our thoughts on the state of anime in 2025.

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Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 2-3

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: It’s a little late to be reviewing just two episodes of a handful of new series, but that’s what I’ve got for you here. Between AOTY writing that’s progressing in the background, my growing interest in non-animated films, and some personal stuff happening in my life, I’ve been slow to keep up with anime this winter. Shibou Yuugi, whose double length premiere greatly intrigued me, was going to be part of this post, but I decided to just publish what I had and not wait around. It probably won’t show up next time either, but there’s a YouTube series that might make the column in a couple weeks if I end up liking it. We’ll see!

Ikoku Nikki – 2-3

Why was there a hybrid Japanese-English grammar lesson in the first act of episode 3, and why did it make me tear up? I guess that’s the strength of Ikoku Nikki, a grief-themed josei drama composed almost entirely of natural conversations between two or three characters. That third episode has received a lot of praise online, likely because it marked the first major emotional moment for its orphan protagonist Asa, and while it surely deserves the acclaim, I found the second to be exceptional as well. In that sophomore episode, Asa’s aunt and legal guardian Makio invites her friend Daigo over to their apartment, and maybe it’s just because I’m in awards season mode, but Daigo is already my frontrunner for Best Supporting Character of 2026. Her hiccupy laugh, warm yet patient personality, and teasing relationship with Makio made her an object of fascination for Asa, whose unfamiliarity with adult friendships hints at a past frigidity between her deceased parents. In episode 3, Asa was more active and less observant, but Makio still got some nice scenes, including one where she mistakenly addressed the specter of her sister while retrieving Asa’s belongings from her previous apartment. The show’s psychological breadcrumb trail is longer for Makio than it is for her new ward, but I’m enjoying the pace at which it’s following both paths.

Continue reading “Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 2-3” →

Winter 2026 First Episode Awards

by SuperWooper, posted in Uncategorized

Wooper: Pardon me for starting out on a tangent, but I just had a look at the upcoming spring anime chart and discovered nearly 15 shows that I’m looking forward to, which makes this newly initiated season less appealing by comparison. I’ve got high hopes for three or four new series, though, one of which was our pick for Best First Episode and Season Sleeper, and it truly does qualify for both in my opinion. It’s not just my assessment that matters, though – Lenlo and Mario also voted for these categories, and I hope to convince them to pop in for a biweekly column or two this winter, as well. Either way, we’ll all be collaborating on 2025’s Anime of the Year post next month. Until then!

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Winter 2026 Impressions: Jigokuraku S2, Oshi no Ko S3, Sousou no Frieren S2

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Jigokuraku S2

Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Jigokuraku, where we hunt down a bunch of Taoist immortal monsters for the elixir of immortality.

Lenlo: So like many sequels, I feel pretty comfortable saying that if you didn’t like the first season, the second won’t change your mind. Yes, this is where I feel Jigokuraku’s narrative starts to pick up a bit, with the Tensen taking center stage and many of the mysteries around Tao and the Island beginning to be answered. So if your main issue was that nothing was happening, then you might enjoy this more. But at its core, Jigokuraku remains a shounen battle series fueled by Taoism where our unlikely heroes team up and defeat a bunch of immortal monsters. In my eyes, so long as the animation is solid (it is) and the story doesn’t interfere with it (it doesn’t), then that’s all I need.
Potential: 40%

Oshi no Ko S3

Short Synopsis: Oshi no Ko establishes its new status quo now that Aqua is busy with his variety show and B-Komachi is gaining popularity.

Mario: Here we have the new, hopefully final, season of Oshi no Ko. I’d say that this episode is more of the same, as it still has insights into the Japanese entertainment industry (Aqua has to shoot 4 episodes of his TV show in a day), with some twisted drama and heightened romance, sometimes not in a good way. I’m still not sure why Aqua, for example, avoids Kana for fear that her reputation would be affected if they were dating (or worse, that a stalker might attack her like they did Ai), but is still dating Akane anyways? Doesn’t he hold the same concern for her? The aspect of this episode I do like is how it is told from Mem-cho’s perspective, as she has been overshadowed by her teammates in previous seasons. What’s the deal with the man Ruby seeks out at the end? I guess we will find out in the next episode.
Potential: 40%

Sousou no Frieren S2

Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Frieren, where a pair of children babysit a 1000 year old elf as they travel the world.

Lenlo: And so we come to the final show of the season. I have to say, I’m really mixed on this first ep. A lot of the highs are still there (Himmel was once again the best part of the episode), it’s animated beautifully, and something about Atsumi’s performance as Frieren just pulls me in. But… Man has it never hit the same highs as those first four episodes. I’ve already gone on a rant about the stupid crystals in Discord, how they found a palm-sized one on the side of the road but somehow no one has found or noticed the cave with literal billions-of-dollars’ worth of crystal like, 50 feet under the main road? Hey Wirbel, those demons? Walk 20 minutes down the road, you might find something to help! It’s stuff like this, or the exam arc, that don’t live up to the carefully crafted world and story that I initially fell in love with, which makes it difficult for me to really recommend Frieren. I think, overall, there’s still a lot to love and enjoy about the show, and it’s most likely going to be one of the prettiest shows of the season, but I can’t confidently say it’s going to be one of the best.
Potential: 60%

Winter 2026 Impressions: Trigun Stargaze, Prism Rondo, The Holy Grail of Eris

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Trigun Stargaze

Short Synopsis: Trigun, but it’s not really Trigun, it’s a weird new Trigun, but man does it look really pretty.

Lenlo: Hey, Milly is finally back! I’ll admit, I don’t remember much about Trigun Stampede, as it was kind of all over the place. So a decent bit of this first episode made absolutely no sense to me, especially after how season 1 ended. Even with that hurdle though, I had fun. Studio Orange continues to make CGI work, with beautiful animation and incredible facial and full body expressions, Trigun really does look great. But outside that… I’m torn. I’m really not sure how much fans of the original show will enjoy this remake. If you’re able to separate it from the 90s anime, think of it as its own unique thing (which I suspect anyone still interested after the first season will be able to), then it should be a good, if confusing, time. If you’re not though, if you’re somehow still stuck on this being Trigun and not Trigun Stargaze, I think you’ll be put off by how different everything is. Personally though, Studio Orange go brr, I wanna see what their take on the series is and watch some pretty lights as they do.
Potential: 40%

Prism Rondo

Short Synopsis: The young adult heiress to a kimono boutique enrolls at a prestigious art school in early 20th century London.

Wooper: Prism Rondo (Love Through a Prism) may be the most Netflix anime ever to Netflix. I don’t typically bring up streaming services when doing these impressions, as they’re really just delivery systems for the shows themselves, but this one falls so neatly into one of its home site’s subgenres (young woman navigates life in a trendy European city) that I was taken aback. Not every anime set at an art college needs to match Honey & Clover’s level of oddity, but Prism Rondo falls on the opposite end of the spectrum, opting for total straightforwardness, and I wasn’t convinced by that choice. The school where protagonist Lili enrolls is quite traditional, so some amount of presentational simplicity is appropriate, but the “become the top student in six months” mandate from her parents offers too clear a path forward in my mind. On the plus side, the visuals are very nice, especially the background art, which is the biggest draw of this premiere. Yasuko Takahashi’s character designs, too, give everyone a striking appearance – even passersby on bustling London streets and within the halls of St. Thomas Art Academy. I’ll keep watching this one for its setting and female focus, but something tells me I won’t make it through all 20 episodes.
Potential: 30%

The Holy Grail of Eris

Short Synopsis: A young girl is possessed by the spirit of a disgraced dead noblewoman who helps the girl navigate the noble court.

Lenlo: So I guess we’re haunted by the spirit of a dead noblewoman because we witnessed her last moments, and she occasionally decides to help us out as we navigate noble society? If I’m being perfectly honest, I zoned out roughly halfway through Eris. Neither Scarlet nor Constance were particularly interesting to me, and the opening scenes of the execution and the ballroom that were meant to set the series up both fell flat. I guess if you’re looking for some kind of girl-boss rising through the ranks of the nobility with the help of Casper Scarlet the friendly ghost, this could be fun, but for me it was a whole lot of nothing. Still, there was nothing offensively bad about it or anything. It was just dull.
Potential: 5%

Winter 2026 Impressions: Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu, Jujutsu Kaisen: The Culling Game, The Case Book of Arne

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu

Short Synopsis: Cute girls participate in death games for money, and no matter what happens so long as they survive they’ll be put back together.

Lenlo: I’m really not sure how I feel about Shibou. Narratively I’m probably in, decently executed death games with casts who take it seriously are fun, and Shibou seems to have just that. It wasn’t afraid to off people right from the start, and it managed to be brutal about it without being excessively gory or over the top. Visually though… Someone is trying something here, and I’m not convinced it works. Are we Monogatari, with the numbered scenes, pastel color palettes, and weird low-detail splotchy wide shots? Or are we Hand Shakers with the diffused lighting, rapid cuts and weird, excessively detailed eyes? I don’t know! There’s a distinct possibility that Shibou is blowing everything it has on its first episode with a double feature and that the rest of the show is nothing like this, it is Studio DEEN after all. But to figure that out I’ll have to watch more, so Shibou has at least succeeded at hooking me for a second episode, and that’s all you can really ask of a premiere.
Potential: 60%

Jujutsu Kaisen: The Culling Game

Short Synopsis: Season 3 of Jujutsu Kaisen, you know what this is at this point, don’t yell at me.

Lenlo: So the thing about JJK is, it’s really just a vibe at this point. The narrative, the characters, all of that is kind of mediocre to me, none of it is interesting or particularly well written, aside from a quick arc with Maki I do quite like. So the question then becomes, why bother watching it? Well because someone as MAPPA is clearly in love with it, because the production is bonkers, in more ways than one. Sometimes beautiful and fluid, sometimes incoherent and messy, JJK is never not visually interesting to look at. So many different color palettes, it’s not afraid to just splash some purple or green or red on the screen, some really stark lighting at times that I love, it just looks good. So as I said at the top, don’t watch this for the narrative, watch it because it’s a vibe and someone at MAPPA took drugs while animating parts of it.
Potential: 50%

The Case Book of Arne

Short Synopsis: An immortal, all-powerful vampire solves cases involving mysterious monsters, and then murders them.

Lenlo: I dunno, it’s fine? Arne feels like it can’t decide whether it wants to be a mystery thriller about a vampire detective solving supernatural mysteries akin to Undead Murder Farce, or an action series with an OP MC “Strongest vampire king” who utterly destroys and overpowers the “evil” supernatural forces. It’s clearly meant to be like, the endgame of each story is Arne defeating them physically after figuring out their scheme, but it doesn’t really work for me. Slap on a vampire obsessed child following our lead around, and the knowledge this is based on a mediocre video game, and I’m just not interested enough to try out a second episode. Still, there isn’t anything outright terrible about it, so maybe you can find some fun?
Potential: 10%

Winter 2026 Impressions: Champignon no Majo, You and I Are Polar Opposites, Yuusha no Kuzu

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Champignon no Majo

Short Synopsis: A day in the life of a forest-dwelling young witch who is known for her poisonous mushrooms.

Mario: Woah, this show came out of nowhere and charmed my socks off. While witches are a common topic within anime, this one just breathes and feels different from these other shows. Heck, I don’t even know where Champignon no Majo is headed after this episode. For now it’s about Luna the Black Witch, who lives alone but not by herself, as she has a bunch of familiars and spirits whom she can talk to. Every time she heads to the nearby village though, everyone would be scared of her because poisonous mushrooms appear after every step she takes. The art style itself is soft and pleasant – the show doesn’t go big on animation but I feel the static shots work well in this context. The script is really big on narration, which isn’t a bad thing in this case as it communicates a lot about things we wouldn’t know otherwise (like how the apothecary and the librarian clean up everything she touches). While I don’t really know about the big picture, what we’ve seen of Luna’s life so far has already convinced me to continue watching it. At least I know I have a protagonist worth rooting for.
Potential: 60%

You and I Are Polar Opposites

Short Synopsis: A neurotic yet cheerful high school girl and her reserved seatmate kick off their new relationship after holding hands one afternoon.

Wooper: As far as romcom premieres go, this one was impressive – maybe my favorite since Komi-san’s first episode in late 2021. Polar Opposites (Seihantai na Kimi to Boku) has a narrower gap between its quiet and loud moments than that show, since its soft-spoken character actually speaks, and the personalities of its supporting cast aren’t as exaggerated (so far). But both have strong visuals, attention-grabbing character designs, and noteworthy OPs. That last point is especially true for Polar Opposites, as although it dabbles in the same smartphone theme as a lot of recent high school anime, its opening also throws in a handful of other styles for good measure, from manipulatives to chalk to Lego (both 3DCG and physical). The episode itself wasn’t as experimental, but its willingness to cartoon-ify its heroine made her relatable rather than merely quirky, and the wordless boldness of her crush pushed us into reciprocal romantic territory with a speed befitting a modern entry in the subgenre. There’s already a sense that Suzuki and Tani-kun are compatible despite their differing personalities, as she sometimes craves the sort of calmness he provides, and he appreciates her energy despite his own quietness. Theirs ought to be an amusing relationship, so I’ll be following it this season.
Potential: 70%

Yuusha no Kuzu

Short Synopsis: A bounty hunter (known as a Brave) is approached by two junior Braves to help them rescue their kidnapped friend.

Mario: I’m not sure if I can get behind this show’s main concept: there are people known as Braves who use their special powers (by injecting ether into their cheek) to fight monsters and save the world? Somehow we just get thrown in the middle of the story so it’s hard to navigate at times. What is clear is that our main character, a washed-up Brave, thinks differently than his peers about the so-called noble profession they share. Yuusha no Kuzu doesn’t skimp on the brutality, and the MC’s slippery personality contrasts well with the earnestness of the younger characters. This wasn’t that bad of a premiere, but I’m not that excited to watch more of it either.
Potential: 30%