The Spring 2026 Anime Preview Guide

Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon Season 3

The future of this fantasy world now lies in the hands of…a vending machine! Boxxo was once a human, until he died in an accident and was reincarnated as a sentient piece of machinery. While he can still hear and see, there's no way for him to move by himself or speak more than his programmed phrases. How can he make the most of this strange new life?

Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon Season 3 is based on the light novel series by author Hirukuma and illustrator Yūki Hagure. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.

I was a big fan of Reborn as a Vending Machine's first season, as I'm unsure how one could watch such a blatantly loopy show and not find it at least moderately entertaining. Since the first light novel volume was published decade ago, there have been plenty of other copycat novel series where the protagonist character is reincarnated into a fantasy world in the form of a non-human object, but this one is probably the best I've come across so far. I do wonder if three anime seasons may just be stretching the premise a little too far though, especially as I was beginning to tire of it by the end of the second season.

We're pretty much at business as usual with this low stakes opening episode, with Boxxo the sentient vending machine engaging in a trade war with ice witch Kikyo, his pre-packaged ice cream desserts against her freshly-frozen fruit produce. That both end up making a loss is amusing, and perhaps a gentle criticism of capitalism and free markets.

It transpires that Boxxo's been in his vending machine body for about a year now, which means it's obviously birthday party time, and an excuse to get all of the adult characters drunk, for laughs. Lammis is cute when she slurs her speech and her face glows red with alcohol-induced vasodilation, though she can't stay awake long enough for Boxxo to tell her how he feels. Awww. At least she doesn't vomit all over him, I guess.

Kikyo announces she and her “Piece of Field” are going to leave the dungeon makes Boxxo a little sad, even if it means he loses a business rival. The concept that there's a field somewhere out there containing the soul of a reincarnated human is bizarre. Has the original author written a separate novel about this character? I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that was the case.

In some lip service to the concept of an overarching plot, Boxxo and pals travel to a new (to Boxxo, anyway) beach-themed dungeon stratum to search for a member of the Menagerie of Fools. I'm sure some of them went bad last season, so it's likely this will eventually lead to some kind of drama. For now though, Boxxo becomes a fishing gear vending machine and they set their sights on fresh seafood for dinner. When they roast a massive clam over a fire, it bursts open to reveal… a shut-in girl? What?

Reborn as a Vending Machine is a perfectly middle-of-the-road, pleasantly entertaining, competently-made, slow-moving fantasy with a single memorable central conceit, and that's Boxxo himself. He doesn't do anything surprisingly creative or weird this time, which is a shame, as that's the series' main hook. I'm not sure I have much motivation to watch more, not in a season that looks to be packed with other shows that excite me so much more.

After our big action climax last season, this one starts off with a bit of downtime for our heroes. Boxxo, along with Kikoyu, get a combined birthday party—with Boxxo being awarded a guild member plaque which simply confirms what everyone else already believes: he's just as human as anyone else. But while for Boxxo, the party is a thing of joy and affirmation, for Kikoyu, it's more bittersweet.

While Boxxo and Kikoyu may be rivals in the battle between vending machines and fresh produce, the truth is that Kikoyu's real analog is Lammis, not Boxxo. Simply put, Kikoyu is what would happen to Lammis if Boxxo “broke”—spending her life journeying in an attempt to resurrect him. Now that she has become an adult (and thanks to her adventures with Boxxo and the rest), Kikoyu has the power to bring The Field—i.e., her Boxxo—back to life. Yet, doing so would leave our heroes without her much-needed help in the Dungeon.

Despite her guilt, Kikoyu makes the choice to follow her heart's desire—to force her way out of the dungeon and make her way to The Field's resting place. Boxxo, to his credit, understands. Lammis and Hulemy, feeling as they do about Boxxo, likewise empathize. However, the fact remains that they are far weaker than they were just a few days before and The Menagerie of Fools still has the edge in power and a notable head start.

Thus our heroes once again go into recruiting mode—looking for past members of The Menagerie of Fools who, like Shui and Heeve, aren't willing to side with the Demon King to achieve their wishes. What we learn from this search is that The Menagerie of Fools have been contacting past members as well. And while they are technically working for the Demon King now, they aren't evil villains; they are heroes willing to do wrong in order to save someone they love. And as their pact with the Demon King is merely to reach the core of the dungeon, they were more than willing to fight and defeat the Demon King's forces on the Dog Mountain Stratum to save the people there.

The episode ends with our heroes getting sidetracked into fishing followed by an impromptu beach barbeque—only to stumble upon the very person they were looking for. And while Shui and Heeve may have refused to defect along with the The Menagerie of Fools for moral reasons, it's starting to look like our newest character simply didn't do so because she didn't want to leave her cozy little clam shell home. We'll just have to wait till next week to find out more.

Three seasons in and I get it now. The reason he's a vending machine is not just a silly random idea that amounts to “What if The Brave Little Toaster was an isekai but he was a Vending Machine instead." To see it that way is to ignore that this entire world is absolute nonsense—what other world can you think of that has bear children dress like Marty McFly, or ice girls who are best friends with a field that comes to life? These are all a bunch of scattershot ideas that don't quite add up, but we buy into them anyway because the character dynamics and simple scenarios make them seem so plausible. This seems hack to say; I'm probably not the first to say “who'd have thought this vending machine show would be this good?” But I am saying that, and as such I'm delighted to say that this first episode was a slow yet strong start of the ongoing adventures of Boxxo and his squad of adventurers.

And it continues to be plausible as well as fun and more relaxed when you compare it with the start of the previous season. The second season premiere kicked things off with an attempt to bum rush the Netherlord, so it's refreshing that the start of this season would go in the opposite direction. We see Boxxo vend out some ice cream, then he celebrates his one year anniversary, and then he goes on a fishing trip to the beach. The episode is basically a non-confrontational slice of life episode, which is very much my bag. The characters and dynamics are introduced nicely and appropriately—I found the moment where Lammis gets happy drunk in front of Boxxo kind of cute.

The celebration of Boxxo's one-year anniversary in this weird, new world leads to some tenderness, especially since we've been with Boxxo for a while now. He's been there for just one year, but the anime's fans in the real world have technically been watching over Boxxo for three. It's a tiny little event that does a lot for the folks who have stuck around for this long into the journey. And just in time to be recognized as an official member of the Hunter's Association, too!

My only complaint here is that the ice girl Kikoyu leaves while the weird boot fetishist Hevee is still here. The way the show...ahem...shoehorned in a tragic backstory to give his weird hobby some legs just didn't work on me, and it would have been better if he left and the Kikoyu stayed—especially since she and Field's origin story is so much like Lammis and Boxxo's own. So much more development and chemistry can be squeezed out here. We'll have to see if she makes a triumphant return, I guess.

The latter half of the episode hits the beach, and I appreciate how it maintains the chillaxed vibes. Nobody goes swimming because, hey? A vending machine can't swim, so Lammis, Boxxo, and Hulemy hit the beach instead. Under most circumstances, I'd call this filler and padding, and it technically is. Yet it feels like a natural, necessary way to continue reintroducing Boxxo and Lammis's dynamic, as well as the relaxed tone of the series. And I'm all for beach episodes, and I'm definitely for throwing in a simple fishing trip into the mix instead of having the classic routine of characters stripping into swimsuits and bikinis.

The episode also briefly mentions Kerioyl to remind us that, yes he's still here and he's probably going to be up to no good later on in the anime. There's not a whole lot this season can do to add any nailbiters or suspense, but hey, whatever you can do to keep audiences invested while remaining consistent, I guess. I'm also interested in seeing the new girl introduced at the end of the episode. Kikoyu was nice, but being introduced halfway through last season and having her dip didn't give her much in the way of development. Now that a new character is taking her place so early in this season, I'm curious to see how it all works out.