Welcome to Anime News Network's Summer 2026 Anime Preview Guide! Here's how it goes: our team of critics writes up their impressions instantly, to be posted here as they go along. Each critic will cover as many shows as they can handle, giving you alternate takes on almost every show.
The guide is ongoing, organized by series, and updated multiple times a day. Throughout the next two weeks, we'll be updating as often as possible with new perspectives on new episodes from our team of critics. New reviews will be posted as soon as they're written, with each critic's name being added to the roster beneath the show's title. Check back a couple of times every day during the guide, and you're likely to see new shows pop up with multiple takes to enjoy!
Please remember that this is a preview guide. It is designed to give you a taste of the first episode of a show with a preliminary opinion and a few thoughts on whether or not the show has potential. These are not intended to be blanket judgments of these series as a whole. All reviews use the same rating scale: 1-5, with 1 being the lowest.
This season, our Anime Preview Guide is expanding to include the first two episodes of every show and an expanded roster of critics. We hope you enjoy this more comprehensive version of the Anime Preview Guide!
This season's Anime Preview Guide is sponsored by Crunchyroll. You can see which anime are streaming on Crunchyroll by looking for the orange border around the image.
Any review that receives four stars or more from all participating reviewers is marked with a trophy sticker. If you want to quickly find the anime that wowed us, look for the sticker!
BOMHAT’s world is well thought out and existentially horrifying if one considers its details too closely.― It's been over two years since I reviewed the first volume of Canadian author BOMHAT's gorgeous dark fantasy manga A Kingdom of Quartz, and re-reading it to prepare for reviewing its remaining four volumes reminded me of why I loved it so much in the first place. Thankfully, the author (mostly)...
It's time for the seasonal romcom roundup! Chris and Sylvia separate the wheat from the chaff so you don't have to.― It's time for the seasonal romcom roundup! Chris and Sylvia separate the wheat from the chaff so you don't have to. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ah...
Lead producer Takashi Iizuka discusses the 35th-anniversary milestone, Sonic's recent collaborations, and what the future of the series could look like.― Sonic the Hedgehog is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. The Blue Blur has been an iconic gaming staple since the beginning. To this day, Sonic continues to draw in both old and new audiences with SEGA's ever-expanding lineup of games, as ...
When does science fiction start becoming reality? Kevin Cormack takes a trip through Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell to ascertain how much of its tech is on its way to the real world.― There's a truism about science fiction in that it tends to say more about the era in which it was written than about the future it attempts to describe. The original 1960s Star Trek, for example, trailblazed con...
World premiere of pilot episode debuted at Japan Expo in France on July 9― Studio Khara's Hiroyasu Kobayashi unveiled the new Tiny Metal: Zero Line anime, based on AREA35's Tiny Metal turn-based tactical game, with the world premiere of the pilot episode at Japan Expo 2026 on July 9 at the Parc des Expositions de Paris-Nord Villepinte in France. The game's official YouTube channel is streaming a tea...
They say looks can be deceiving, but actions also speak louder than words, and Natsume's actions far overshadow his intimidating demeanor.― The "scary guy who actually has a heart of gold" trope has been done a lot, and I'll fault Natsume & Natsume for it because it occasionally falls into the predictable narrative beats often associated with that setup. There are parts in these volumes where Natsum...
At AX, Tachikawa showed a scene that didn't make it into Mob Psycho 100 II episode seven.― At Crunchyroll's "Go 100%! Mob Psycho 100 10th Anniversary Celebration," voice actors Setsuo Ito (Mob) and Takahiro Sakurai (Reigen) and director Yuzuru Tachikawa reminisced about the anime and shared anecdotes from the series' original run, including an intimate peek into his storyboarding process. During a s...
It’s not the most exciting or dynamic of shows, and this is reflected in the overly pedestrian direction and static, flat visuals― Modern life is stressful. Surely we can all agree on that? Therefore, it's not too much of a stretch to empathize with Sunao, who'd prefer to stay in her room than engage with stressful things like friendship difficulties, socializing, and schoolwork. While she could shu...
Coop and Lucas take a look at some of the summer anime season's least interesting debuts.They can't all be winners?―
Coop and Lucas take a look at some of the summer anime season's least interesting debuts.They can't all be winners? The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network. Netflix streams Chainsmoker Cat. HIDIVE streams Hell Mode....
Postapocalyptic action manga serialized in Japan from 2021-2023― A teaser website opened on Tuesday to announce the television anime adaptation of ippatu's Tsugumi Project (Tora Tsugumi) manga, and revealed a teaser promotional video and teaser visual.Kodansha USA Publishing published the manga and describes the story:In the far future, a soldier named Leon is taken from his family on a trumped-up c...
If you look up “anticlimax” in the dictionary, you'll see this story arc of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime listed as an example.― If you look up “anticlimax” in the dictionary, you'll see this story arc of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime listed as an example. Honestly, the arc has so much going for it with Mariabell as a villain. She was built up as a looming threat in the previous ...
With nearly all the new shows debuted, we're into episode two territory! Find out how Goodbye, Lara holds up in its sophomore episode along with Black Torch, Sparks of Tomorrow, Chainsmoker Cat and more!― Welcome to Anime News Network's Summer 2026 Anime Preview Guide! Here's how it goes: our team of critics writes up their impressions instantly, to be posted here as they go along. Each critic will...
Alas, poor Valko, players were just really divided on your existence and Papergames did not handle it well.― Hello, and welcome once more to another installment of the column! It has, to put it mildly, been a rough couple of weeks, particularly if you're in or covering the game industry. With new waves of layoffs and controversial (to put it mildly) corporate decision-making, the game industry - or ...
The World is Dancing fictionalizes the life of Zeami, one of Noh's greatest performers and writers, but what is the history of Noh theater? Marcille Donato delves into the history of Japan's oldest performing art.― Of all the forms of human expression that have ever existed, it would not be incorrect to say that one of the oldest and most universal is the art of dancing. Humans have been shaking the...
