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Forum - View topicThe Best Anime of Winter 2026
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champeagle3
Posts: 65 |
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SYLIVA!!! That was a beautiful write-up for Shiboyugi! As soon as I started reading that opening paragraph, I knew without scrolling to the end of it that it had to be written by you. I am crying a little bit as I write this thinking about Azuma. My favorite show of the season for many, many reasons you alluded to that are best experienced than detailed.
Well done! |
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Glordit
 Posts: 1181 |
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My list would too long so I'll just keep it short this season.
Best anime of Winter 2026: #1. Golden Kamuy. #2. Golden Kamuy. #3. Golden Kamuy. Everything else in no particular order I enjoyed them all the same: Ikkoku Nikki Toumei Otoko to Ningen Onna: Sonouchi Fuufu ni Naru Futari FATE/Strange FAKE Arne no Jikenbo Prism Rondo Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu. MF GHOST S3 Omagoto Shuumatsu no Valkyrie S3 Darwin Jihen Baki Dou Jujutsu Kaisen S3 Yuusha-kei ni Shosu Frieren S2 Hell Mode Oshi no Ko S3 Yuusha no Kuzu Jigokuraku S2 Seihantai na Kimi to Boku Fumetsu no Anata e S3 Hikuidori - Ushuu Boro Tobi-gumi There's more show's I'd like to list but will save everyone from the spam. Last edited by Glordit on Mon Mar 23, 2026 9:17 am; edited 1 time in total |
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2565 |
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Granted I'm not really reading conversations in that many places but I think this is the first time I've seen someone say Frieren 2 is "easily the equal of its predecessor in every single aspect". Most I've seen (and I agree with them) is that it's a very clear step down, though not necessarily a cause for that much concern, as it's just that the first season was really good and this one is just regular good
Overall this season unfortunately doesn't seem like it's gonna have anything that I'm gonna remember for years, but everything I'm watching is all right. Journal ,Frieren S2 and Eternity S3 are sitting on a higher shelf than the other ones while JJK S3 and Fate are on a slightly lower one and Kamuy is hanging in there |
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An Unchosen One
 Posts: 203 |
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I feel like some of these are on here more for what a mixed bag this season seems to have been, but I guess that could just mean it helped these shows stand out.
Invisible Man & Soon To Be Wife - I don't know if seinen romance is as rare in anime as shoujo, but this was a pleasant surprise. The characterization for both leads is pretty good, the side characters get a dedicated amount dedicated to them, and the creator certainly dove right into developing the kind of world where two human co-workers work with an animal lady and for an invisible man. For such a schlocky-sounding premise, this turned out really well. Holy Grail of Eris - I'm inclined to disagree with this one due to some issues I have with the story and especially because this adaptation is clearly lacking even without reading either the LNs or the manga. I haven't, and it's still obvious to me that the anime is rushing through and cutting a lot, which just isn't good for this kind of story. Golden Kamuy - Despite some similar adaptation woes to Holy Grail of Eris, I can get behind this. Maybe I wouldn't if I'd ever gotten around to reading the manga, but I think it's a testament to just how well Noda pulled off the series that its qualities shine through even with how rushed the anime tends to be. Polar Opposites - It falls into probably one of the more annoying aspects of shounen rom-coms in that it can feel like it's too much com at the expense of the rom, but the development between the leads has been nice to watch and it helps that the supporting cast gets a lot of time in the limelight as well to keep things varied. ShiboYugi - I have mixed feelings on this one. On one hand, the first half was generally pretty good at mixing the director's style with the nature of the source material, but the second showed a lot of flaws with his approach, especially when it came to the changes made. The finale especially wastes so much time on a pointless scene that the ending isn't even complete. Fate/strange Fake - Even if I weren't a bit burned out on Fate/ (I really wish I'd stopped playing Grand Order when Part 1 ended…), I don't think I'd be as into this series as others seem to be. The concept is interesting, but putting aside the fruitless endeavor that is being concerned about accuracy to history and myths from a franchise closer to Record of Ragnarok in that regard than some would like to admit, the cast has been a very mixed bag, and it's not helped by Narita and A-1's approach being not unlike many US movies for Japan, in that Snowfield is a very filtered take on US culture. It's really obvious with characters like that police chief (who would absolutely not be concerned with civilian safety if he were written at all accurately to real police) and Tine, and it might be exaggerated by A-1 having some distinctly Japanese mannerisms for characters, but that's made it a pretty weird watch. And just as an aside, calling Urobuchi the creator of Fate/zero is misleading; he himself says that Nasu came up with the story, and even that the ending already being decided was a big factor in him agreeing to write it due to his state of mind at the time, so it's better thought of as a collaboration between the two. Journal with Witch - I wasn't even going to watch this until reviews started coming in and my interest was piqued, but yeah, easily the best anime this season. Makio is a great character whose dynamic with Asa while the latter goes through such an experience at such a young age has made the show much more engaging than I expected, especially with how the supporting cast plays into either of their stories and their shared one. I know there are those who find Asa frustrating, but I think Yamashita did a good job balancing her out with the right characters and the staff have done well in adapting what she made. |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2714 |
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1) Polar Opposites - immaculate adaptation, no notes
2) JJK S3 - splendid arthouse direction, Higuruma's perfect, amazing fights, but if you put a gun to my head I could nitpick one or two things so it's second 3) Sentenced to Heroism - beautiful animation, likable characters, and just plain fun; headpat your local Teoritta today 4) Jigokuraku - I'm surprised how into this season I've been given how little I remember the first season. Great character moments and fights. 5) Fate/strange fake - the novel cuts kill this for me. Way too many rushed moments. 6) Mato Seihei - needed more time in the oven, still pretty tasty dough though 7) Pokémon Horizons - Same as always for a long-running kid's show. Good moments, meh moments, occasional animation spikes, surprisingly good OPs and EDs that will never see the light of day in America. Avoided: 1) Oshi no Ko - the writing really started grating on me here. Lol lmao at Kana spoiler[getting her ass pulled out of the fire by Aqua yet again because Akasaka couldn't stop writing her in circles if his life depended on it.] I look forward to video clips of chapter 123. 2) All Rounder - it just wasn't interesting enough to get back into |
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JustMonika
Posts: 1567 |
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Easily my top 10 of the season. Oshi no Ko being the best as always which is why it's the best series I've ever seen aside from Monogatari Series which will always be #1 of all-time for me.
Oshi no Ko (Season 3) A Misanthrope Teaches a Class for Demi-Humans You and I are Polar Opposites Frieren (Season 2) Tune in to the Midnight Heart Journal with Witch You Can't be in a Rom-Com with Your Childhood Friends Medalist (Season 2) Sentenced to be a Hero Tis time for Torture, Princess (Season 2) |
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tintor2
 Posts: 2694 |
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Frieren was one of my favorite sequels especially since the latter half of the first season avoided the typical appeal I used to find in the first episodes. The relationship between the cast keeps evolving while doing their typical journey while even the darker series were also devoted to characters interacting about how they see each other. Madhouse's productions values were insane, enough to compete with MAPPA when it came to action sequences.
A new anime that surprised me is Tamon B Side. I rarely enjoy shojo manga but Kinoshita ended up becoming one of my favorite characters with the way she acts both as the straight woman in the middle of a comedy of involving quirky celebrities as well as comical one when she devotes herself to introvert Tamon. The multiple artstyles used in the anime helped balance the drama with the comedy. Tamon reminded me of Noe from Vanitas no Carte due to his quiet side and chibi style who sometimes has a sex appeal when growing confidence. Oshi no Ko is an anime I don't really understand. Why do they keep recycling the love triangle when Aqua never opened up to Kana in the entire series and preferred having Akane? I guess in the end they needed to end relationships to progress but it seems the writer really loves using tragedy to the point. At least, I really liked how they decided to use Ruby more often after how season 2 focused mostly on a play. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 5004 |
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I can't think of the Winter 2026 season as a mixed bag. I agree that there have been no eternal masterpieces that won't be forgotten in the next ten years but there have been a lot of good plus great anime. Many shows like Frieren, Hell's Paradise, Fire Force, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes and 'Tis Time for "Torture maintained (or came close to) the quality of their previous season(s). Then there are quite a few pleasant surprises such as:
Kaya-chan Isn't Scary for being actually scary/creepy with a strong main plot. The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife for establishing a setting that makes you think about how tricky it would be to have so many different species live in peace. Mato Seihei no Slave 2 for delivering plenty of fanservice and even some actual good action. Sentenced to Be a Hero for being a lot of fun with lots of exciting action. Fate/strange Fake for being a grand tale that even a complete newcomer such as me can handle. You and I Are Polar Opposites for being the perfect show to just make you laugh and feel happy. Plus Journal with Witch for being able to make a stoic like make cry a fair bit. Looking at that list I would call it quite the season. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 25601 |
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My top three shows of Winter 2026, in alphabetical order are: Frieren 2, Journal with Witch, and You and I Are Polar Opposites. The reason I put them in alphabetical order is that they are very different shows and I am loving them for very different reasons, so trying to rank them would be kind of pointless for me. Apples, oranges and pears, so to speak.
I will say Polar Opposites has been the biggest surprise for me. I expected to love Frieren 2 and Journal with Witch (even though the first episode didn't really grab me), but I went into Polar with a jaundiced eye about school rom-coms. Polar quite quickly won me over and is now in the pantheon of school rom-coms I love like Kimi ni Todoke, Love*Com and Toradora!. |
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meiam
Posts: 3674 |
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Slam dunk for polar opposite as far as I'm concerned, avoid all the needless over dram of the usual rom show, while developing a large cast of unique character.
Really liked first half of journal with witch, but kinda bored with second half, just don't care about Asa as a regular teenager. I went into the fate show without much prior fate experience (hate how it start with potate MC who get his super wife who can order around, yuke). All I really have to say is "STFU and get to the fight!", fight were great, everything else just felt like pointless filler. Also, how does a death game show with waaaaaaaay too many character managed to have almost no death for most of the run time? I know its the "hook" of this version, but really feel like there's twice as many character as there should be. Fireren S2 is kinda in between first half of S1 and its second half. Not a slam dunk, definitely not as good as S1, but decent. Sorta but not really surprised sentenced to be a hero isn't in there, its okay but its scoring way lower than its apparent production value should allow it to. There's an interesting story in there, but focus seems to be on all the wrong place (does anyone really care about the the relationship between boring lead and waifu goddess? Why is it so promient? Why introduce a love triangle with three women character?). |
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LinkTSwordmaster
 Posts: 814 Location: PA / USA |
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On the note of Villainess anime in general being run into the ground -
I watched Heretical Last Boss Queen semi-recently, and it is getting another season shortly yeah? I think it's a great example of where I'm feeling the genre is kind of tripping up the more I see it. It started off with a really neat idea - the main character reincarnates and wakes up one day realising that at some point in the future, they were originally going to go completely batshit evil, and she resolves to change her ways and set things right. The problem is two-fold. What essentially amounts to her setting things "right" is in practise the sort of thing that Sword Art's Kirito gets bashed for doing - she often slides into power-trip fantasy to end a conflict in a way that doesn't necessarily ever make her feel like she's at risk of losing. This would be an interesting juxtaposition against her originally going evil - if she's this powerful, you can see why no one can stop her. The problem is that very quickly, it doesn't seem like she'll ever be at risk of letting this evil scenario happen anymore, once she "wakes up" to reality, unless some sort of curse or mind control does some kind of body swap and NTRs her and her stable of men later on in the story. If you can tell by my tone in that last sentence, the other issue I have is that the focus doesn't actually seem to be on the main character, it's that at some point over the show, there's a shift and we start seeing things a bit too much from the perspective of all of her male suitors. At a certain point on Heretical Last Boss Queen, it feels like the story isn't confident enough in letting its main conflict play out, so they slow up and give each side character a Naruto origin story segment. I feel they should push the setting much harder - actually show her having to make lose-lose decisions that could make people lose faith in her. But any threat of that seems to have evaporated, so all that is left is this "will-they-wont-they" stuff with whatever guy she might eventually pick from the lot. It sucks because it's a great concept for a story - the main character knows things have the potential to go bad, but rather than show how she can slowly affect change naturally over time like on All Routes Lead to Doom, they portray her original bad future like its a complex she has in her head and focus on other stuff entirely like she doesn't realise she's already changed things. I think for the genre to survive (and looking at Isekai in general, I realise no one probably really cares what I think here, lol) it maybe needs to decouple itself from featuring too heavily on romance, and really, really dig in deep to a heavy conflict that is a bit too hard to solve "instantly" like it seems Heretical Last Boss Queen is trying to, for the sake of presenting a female power-trip fantasy. It's failing that anyways because at some point, the cast of side character boyfriendos became more developed than the lead lady. If these stories all meld into being "Kirito, but in a dress", it's gonna get worn out very fast. I'll keep an eye out for The Holy Grail of Eris. It shocks me no one has tried "Yugioh, but the pharaoh is a lady" yet. |
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WizardOfOss
 Posts: 153 Location: Oss, Netherlands |
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This was a weird season for me, as I started the year on vacation in Taiwan and Japan, and when I got back home I still had to finish the 2025 autumn season. As a result, I only started with the winter season over three weeks late. And while I usually try to give every new series a proper chance, this time I resorted to another solution: Every new series got 5 minutes, no more, no less, to prove it might be worth my time. That way, in one evening I went from 37 series down to only 8 of which I would watch the entire first episode. And after that, I dropped another four. And like that I ended up with only 4 new series I have kept watching till the end. Do I regret picking those four? Not really, all turned out to be fine. Did I miss out on some gems? Probably (Polar Opposites in particular), but I obviously can still watch those later.
And besides those four, there were obviously plenty of sequels and continuations from last season. One I ended up dropping just because of a lack of interest (Jigokuraku), and one I put on hold to binge later (Trigun Stargaze). And considering how much I ended up hating the 2nd season of JJK (while I really enjoyed the 1st season!), I decided to not even bother with season 3. With all that in mind, this is how my list (excluding shorts) will likely turn out: (unless those last few episodes mess things up...):
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EmeraldSaucer
 Posts: 932 |
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Ikoku Nikki is an instant all-time favorite for me, not since The Great Passage have I been so thoroughly captivated by TV anime week after week (it's scary to think that it's been a literal decade since then). Already loved what I read of the manga, but this adaptation just adds a layer of meticulous sensitivity on all fronts from the understated but expert animation to Kensuke Ushio's lovely score to the rearrangement of the text to draw the most out of it within a one cour run time. It's a story that could so easily devolve into misery porn, but there is an equal amount of sensitivity in going above and beyond that, not just showing Asa silently wallowing in pain to then reach some trite conclusion but showing her as a regular teenager finding her way in life in the wake of tragedy (because that's what's real, a core of the human experience of loss)
Shiboyugi was the other half of this season's demonstration on the strength of selective adaptation. It is so easy to see the world where this got a straightforward 1:1 adaptation, never straying outside the lines out of fear of offending fans of the original work, and it would have settled into a comfortable mediocrity where those fans talked about it and not many others. But instead we got Sota Ueno taking a skilled hand to the material (fortunately material that has a bit more to chew on than Days with My Stepsister) and crafting an experience you can only get by watching this adaptation, moody and cold and yet at the same time morbidly life-affirming You and I Are Polar Opposites was a comparatively conservative effort, but still a great time (anything that draws attention to the work of Natsuho Iwaida, in this case with Miyu's mesmerically goofy running, is a plus). Fate/strange Fake continues to be an exercise in a production seeming to barely manage to scrape by, and I still think a lot has been lost in this attempt to translate Narita's very dense prose, but when it hits it hits. And Tamon's B-Side has really showcased the comedic chops of Chika Nagaoka's directorial style, infusing the show with a tangible sense of energy not usually afforded to Shojo adaptations Will echo that Frieren has been perfectly ok, keeping afloat for me more off the momentum of last season than anything this one has done exceptionally well. Still good, and I still enjoy its more slice-of-life approach to an adventuring party's journey, but unless something changes with the last episode can't help but feeling like this season is just a buffer between more substantial acts |
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Nyapan
 Posts: 60 |
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This season was great! I ended up following 15 shows.
My favorite was Ikoku Nikki, which will be one of my rare 9/10s. I knew I would like it since Shuka is a great studio but it still surprised me. In second place would be Fate/Strange Fake. I'm a big Fate fan so this was a no-brainer. With slower pacing it could be even better but it's still a really enjoyable experience with a cast full of personality. Third is Medalist Season 2. Unfortunately it's not on the list but I can't say I'm surprised given how Disney has handled the release in the US. This season was an improvement in animation and OST. Except for that, it was about as good as the first one which was already my second favorite anime last year. There are other series I enjoyed in the list like The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife, Tamon's B-Side and You and I Are Polar Opposites. I will say I was quite pleased with the light novel adaptations I chose to watch this season. I usually avoid them since the genres they cover such as isekai, villainess or harem are mixed bags for me. And when I do give them a try I'm more often than not disappointed by weak writing or bad pacing. This wasn't the case this time as I am quite enjoying Sentenced to be a Hero, A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation and Isekai Office Worker. Lastly, Digimon Beatbreak got even better as it got along and I really hope the reviews will come back next season! |
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Daidan12
Posts: 170 |
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Even if I love the source material more from some entries like Golden Kamuy and Fate Strange/fake. The anime that I look forward the most is Frieren.
Here is my reasoning: - Fate Strange/Fake, sadly it's an extremely rushed adaptation and misses one of the key points that makes Narita's writing excellent, he knows how to uses character motivations/behaviour to connect their stories. The only one that the anime has managed to show this somewhat decently is with Flat, we are missing everyone's else day by day motivations/actions to be where they are on the plot. - Golden Kamuy the studio just doesn't have the kind of production that could do this story justice. I expect way more, they can do character scenes perfectly, but they miss the mark on the action. - Jujutsu Kaisen, I just hate the Culling Games, it's boring filler. I like Higuruma a lot but he isn't going to show again until much later. - Fire Force they cut a LOT of important stuff and some nice character moments, a damn shame. - Polar Opposites I would wait for the full season to end and judge, I love the manga, this cour isn't really an end or complete story. Frieren has been perfect, they wisely decided to stop just before the big arc and we ended up with lots of little stories that each build up on the journey, I can safely say that I remember MORE each of these adventures that the individual ones that we got on season 1 in between the big arcs. I liked Himmel before, now I love him, what an amazing character. |
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