The Winter 2026 Anime Preview Guide

The Holy Grail of Eris

Connie is a young noblewoman whose only standout quality is her sincerity. Maybe that's why she loses her fiancée and gets framed for a crime in the span of one night. Just as all hope seems lost, the ghost of an infamous villainess who was executed years ago possesses her and clears her name. With her incomparable charisma and intelligence, the spirit of Scarlett Castiel turns the tables in the blink of an eye. In return, Connie insists that she help uncover the truth surrounding her new benefactor's untimely death and a conspiracy that continues to this very day.

The Holy Grail of Eris is based on Kujira Tokiwa and Yuunagi's The Holy Grail of Eris (Eris no Seihai) light novel series. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursdays.

What's that voice whispering in my ear not to go all-in on The Holy Grail of Eris? Is it the vengeful ghost of all the villainess anime I've ever watched and forgotten about, agglutinized into one “seasonal slop” series? “Do you really think this one will be different?” it asks. “Even those of us you've enjoyed, you've mostly ceased thinking about as soon as they ended. Life is so short to spend it on mediocre anime…”

There may be some merit to their claims. The Holy Grail of Eris takes place in the exact same pseudo-Regency world of nobility and ballrooms as most of these series. It's based on a light novel that started out on Narou. The art style is indistinguishable from the vast majority of the fantasy anime that exist primarily to be consumed for a season and forgotten. Constance even looks like Anis from The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, though I couldn't remember her name or even the title of the show until I asked my friends who I had originally watched it with.

Despite this, I believe Constance and her story might set itself apart. Sorry, it's not Constance who sets things apart; she seems nice enough, but she's not especially interesting by design. It's Scarlett who will set the show apart. She was the villainess who didn't get away, and her anger at her fate and determination to get vengeance is what will drive the story forward. The protagonists of villainess stories usually freeze up when accused of their crimes, and Connie is no exception; most people would, after all. Only Scarlett's intervention saves her, and the confidence with which she takes over the room is spellbinding. Kana Ichinose is perfect as both characters, as she performs Scarlett speaking through Connie's vocal cords.

With Scarlett's influence, the narrative is much angrier than I've come to expect from series in the genre. Typically, the villainess shrugs her shoulders and goes on to rebuild her life elsewhere, because the guy kicking her out was a twit, and he and his new fiancee deserve each other. Neil, on the other hand, seems like a nice enough boy, if a bit dim. After Constance takes her leave, however, there's an ominous shot implying that he and Pamela may face a grimmer future than usual. It's not to the level of, say, Roll Over and Die, but Scarlett is not here to play around, and they both inhabit a culture where a woman was publicly executed for a supposed murder plot.

Will I watch The Holy Grail of Eris and immediately forget about it? Perhaps. But there's a good chance it will set itself apart.

It's kind of neat that the heroine of The Holy Grail of Eris isn't some random Japanese girl who has been reincarnated as a villainess, but rather is an already living young noblewoman who has been possessed by a villainess. It turns the show into a mashup of the “Betrayed by my fiance” cliche and the “reincarnated villainess” cliche—with a dash of murder mystery thrown in for good measure, which certainly makes for a more interesting brew. I always say that cliches can be overcome by solid execution, and the amount of thought that this show has put into its basic setup is already putting it ahead of some of its less ambitious competition.

Also, I find that I enjoy the dynamic that Constance shares with her otherworldly passenger, Scarlett. On her own, I would probably find Constance too meek and shimmer-eyed to be an appealing protagonist, but her disposition becomes an effective tool when Scarlett takes over and starters doling out the Kubrick stares and haughty monologues to the mean girls that are hellbent on ruining Constance's life. The end result kind of gives me vague “May I Ask for One Final Thing?” vibes, except Constance/Scarlett's weapons of choice are a vicious tongue and a keen knowledge of how to push the emotional buttons of blue-bloods who live as obsequious slaves to social morays.

Even though I still wouldn't turn down the opportunity to watch Scarlett use Constance's tiny little fists to smack a bully right in the mouth a time or three, it's still plenty satisfying to see the duo win the war of manners with a devilish grin. My one main complaint with this premiere is that it simply doesn't do all that much to be a visually compelling piece of television. The animation is pretty decent and all, and we occasionally get a little camera flourish to try and liven up the proceedings, but much of this premiere still consists of a bunch of over-dressed rich kids standing around in a ballroom and yammering at each other for many, many minutes. If future episodes of The Holy Grail of Eris can liven up the presentation to get me more invested in Scarlett and Constance's journey, though, then I could see this as growing into one of this season's more pleasant surprises.

I love villainess stories—i.e., stories built around the typical otome fantasy game archetype in which the point-of-view character is the villainess rather than the heroine. From this base, the story can go in any number of directions. The Holy Grail of Eris is a fantastic example of this.

This anime is set in a world where the heroine is triumphant. She married the prince while the villainess, Scarlett, was denounced and put to death. Now, a decade later, the villainess' ghost haunts a young noble woman, Constance—who has little to her name beyond her family's honor—while attempting to get revenge on those who killed her. It's a great setup, and this first episode gives us a solid feel for who both Scarlett and Constance are.

Basically, Constance is trying to embody her family motto of treating everything with sincerity, despite the financial problems it has caused for her family. She doesn't lie or obfuscate the truth to her own ends. She is a babe in the woods when it comes to noble society—which makes her easy pray from the would-be villainesses therein.

Scarlett, on the other hand, thrives in the cutthroat world of noble parties. When Constance is framed for a crime she didn't commit, and Scarlett possesses her body, she sees the truth of what's really going on. No one really cares if Constance is guilty or not. They're viewing the whole scene as entertainment. They're watching Constance struggle and loving it. Scarlett wins not only by putting her would-be accuser in the hot seat but by dragging the crowd into it as well—pulling the observers onto the playing field and forcing them to play the role of righteous hero or risk social annihilation should any of the other witnesses come forward when they did not.

And to hammer this point home, the party ends with a scene where, suddenly, the whole crowd is on Constance's side—eager to get revenge for the poor girl. In Constance's absence, they force the cheating couple to dance barefoot until they drop—the floors stained with the blood of their bleeding feet. Of course, none of them actually care about Constance. They just wanted a show to satiate their sadism, and Scarlett, via Constance, delivered them the perfect target.

This is the world Constance must move through if she hopes to get Scarlett her revenge.

This is not your typical villainess story. I'd argue that it's not actually one at all, but that's a discussion for later in the season; as of this first episode, it simply looks like an atypical one. After all, not many pieces in that genre begin with the execution of the villainess herself. That's Scarlett Castiel, a young woman branded as “the wickedest woman of her era,” and a very young Constance Grail accidentally witnessed it. At Scarlett's execution, French Revolution-levels of jeering met her doom, supporting the popular lore about her vileness. But would a truly evil woman whisper a message to the scared little girl shoved to the front of the crowd? Or later help that girl when she was being framed for an offense she didn't commit?

The Holy Grail of Eris certainly does know what it's doing on that front. Connie is the first person to see Scarlett's ghost in the decade since her death, which makes sense since they connected at Scarlett's execution, and some of her blood splashed onto Connie's cheek. They meet at the Grand Merrillion, an in-world analog to the famed Almack's of 19th-century London, the site of Scarlett's downfall and where an unpleasant woman named Pamela is attempting to do much the same thing to Connie. Scarlett was accused of cruelty to Cecilia, a young woman the prince was involved with, and Pamela is trying to frame Connie because she wants Connie's fiancé, Neil. There's a definite parallel going on there, and that Scarlett responds to Connie's cries for help probably says something about the situation that led to her execution. After all, in the history of villainess stories, how many of those “villainesses” were actually guilty?

The title should also hint at where this is heading. Eris is, of course, the Greco-Roman goddess of discord (her name is Discordia in Latin), and Connie's last name is Grail, although a “grail” is also a drinking vessel most often associated with the Christian Holy Grail. Eris' grail would have to be representative of strife and discord, and with at least one false accusation stirring up both of those things, we have to question whether Connie will be Scarlett's grail or if there's a more literal meaning. (The imagery of the old double-image of what's either the stem of a glass or two people's faces is on point.) Even if Scarlett is just as bad as everyone says – and she does seem to delight in that idea – she also wants her revenge, which may say otherwise. This is a mystery at its heart, as other imagery in the ending theme (opening theme?) suggests through its falling chess pieces.

Visually, this is also doing a lovely job. Scarlett's dress is notably different from the other women's dresses in color, trim, and neckline, which shows that it's ten years out of date, and the character designs have transferred well from the novel illustrations and manga adaptations. The pacing is necessarily speedy right now, but the entire main story is only three novels long, so if they play this right, it could be a very good one. If you like a good mystery, do give this a few episodes. I think it's going to be good.