Wooper: Having spent the lead-up to our recent 2000s retrospective looking backward, it’s time for us to return our gaze to the immediate future, as another annual anime cycle is about to begin. As with most modern seasons, there are loads of new entries in existing franchises to fawn over, and as with most of our previews, I’m excited for very few of them (though I’ll shout out an additional handful after the jump). Even if they’re not increasing in number year over year, it feels as though these continuations are taking up more and more space; case in point, there is just one (1) new original series premiering between January and March this year. That’s not enough to make me write off this winter altogether, though, since it’s got a trio of manga adaptations that I’ve been awaiting for a while. Maybe you’re looking forward to one of them too, or something else entirely – let us know in the poll at the end of this post (or leave a comment if you’ve already got your sights set on spring!).

Middling Expectations

Fate/strange Fake

Studio: A-1 Pictures
Directors: Shun Enokido & Takahito Sakazume
Series composition: Daisuke Oohigashi
Source: Light novel

The Premise: Masters and Servants clash once more in a false Holy Grail War engineered by the American government.

I’ve never finished a Fate/series – even Zero, the most accessible of the bunch, lost my interest before I reached the end of the second cour. The franchise’s VN roots result in such voluminous dialogue that its anime adaptations, for all their good looks, cause my eyes to glaze over. I watched Strange Fake’s 2023 prequel “Whispers of the Dawn” just the other day, and its hour-long run time felt like twice that, requiring that I constantly shift in my chair to maintain consciousness until the end. There’s no “but” coming, either, as I’ll begin watching Strange Fake in a week or so, only to inevitably drop it shortly thereafter. That said, the aforementioned prequel was visually impeccable, so it seems to have been the right call to give Fate/Apocrypha action directors Enokido and Sakazume the reins to this new show. Effects-heavy combat is one thing, but if Whispers is any indication, their team also has character animation on lock. The production schedule thus far has been unhurried, as well, with Strange Fake’s first episode having aired a year ago, and its second debuting at an in-person event last August. I’m sure that’s been annoying for Fate superfans, but they haven’t much longer to wait before the series begins in earnest – I’ll join them for as many episodes as I can before sleep claims me.

Sequel Showcase

Top left: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes S2
Top right: Golden Kamuy S5
Bottom left: Medalist S2
Bottom right: Oshi no Ko S3

There are a ton of sequels airing this winter: Jujutsu Kaisen, Hell’s Paradise, Fire Force, Trigun Stargaze, and the list goes on. A couple continuations will get their own paragraphs later in this post, as well. The four pictured above are of particular interest to at least one Star Crossed contributor, though, so I wanted to carve out a space for them, starting with Vigilantes’ second season, which keeps the HeroAca train going after its mainline adaptation concluded just a couple weeks ago. I know Lenlo is a fan of the franchise – he’s also an admirer of Golden Kamuy (as are a few others on staff here), which will begin airing its final arc soon, though its Sapporo Brewery prequel film likely won’t be subbed for a few more months. Medalist was one of 2025’s surprise hits, so although there’s been a stir on social media about its troubled production, several of us are looking forward to its sequel. As for Oshi no Ko, I liked the “2.5D Stage Play” portion of its second season, so I’ll poke my head back in to see whether S3 offers a similarly enjoyable start.

Prism Rondo

Studio: Wit
Director: Kazuto Nakazawa
Series composition: Saki Fujii, Yoko Kamio
Source: Original

The Premise: A Japanese exchange student at a British art school must rise to the top of her class within half a year, or else return home.

Take a look at the second of the two names credited for series composition above. If you’re a shoujo fan of a certain age, you’ll recognize it as belonging to the author of Hana yori Dango, arguably the most popular romance manga ever written. I haven’t read or watched that series in ages, but there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s dated as hell by now, which raises the question of how Prism Rondo will fare in 2026. Will Kamio modernize her characters’ relationship dynamics for the modern era? Do people even want that from her? I’m interested to see how this new series will pan out, especially since it’s an original anime with a period setting (early 20th century London), a young adult cast, and a 20 episode order. The director has overseen a couple car wrecks in B: The Beginning and Fena Pirate Princess, but as a romantic drama, Prism Rondo ought to lack the supernatural elements that pushed his prior titles into dubious territory. I’ll be approaching this one with curiosity, if not optimism, when it airs in mid-January.

Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu

Studio: Deen
Director: Souta Ueno
Series composition: Rintarou Ikeda
Source: Light novel

The Premise: Six girls in maid outfits are forced to play death games in order to escape a ghostly mansion.

Souta Ueno made a name for himself last year when he directed Gimai Seikatsu, a minimalist adaptation of a stepsibling romance light novel that I bailed on after just four episodes. Based on what little I saw of it, I have no trouble believing the claims that he elevated the material far beyond what was on the page, and now I have a chance to see him work in a non-incestuous context. Shiboyugi, or “Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table,” still has otaku-baiting elements, but the PV makes it clear that Ueno is doubling down on his stoic, sparsely animated style. We even have shots of characters with their lineart and facial features removed, along with subtly warped backgrounds likely meant to compliment their fraught mental states. The death game genre isn’t my favorite, but it’s encouraging to hear about a director who thrives despite working with limited resources, so I’ll check this out as a potential fan of his.

Yoroi Shinden Samurai Troopers

Studio: Sunrise
Director: Youichi Fujita
Series composition: Shougo Mutou
Source: Original

The Premise: Five battle-suited warriors continue their fight against an evil emperor seeking world domination.

It’s been over 35 years since Yoroiden Samurai Troopers first aired in Japan, but rather than reboot it, the production company is going full sequel, which indicates major confidence in the franchise. I’m not a part of whatever audience the property has retained (I wasn’t even aware of its anglicized version, Ronin Warriors, until doing a bit of research for this preview), but I’m digging the Saturday morning cartoon vibe of its new PV. The silliness of the story, revolving around mystical, millennia-old suits of armor, will be no obstacle to my enjoyment so long as the production holds up its end of the bargain, and with Sunrise behind the project, that’s not likely to be a problem. The presence of Youichi Fujita makes me think this incarnation of Samurai Troopers will be more than a beat-em-up, too – he’s spent most of his career working on series like Gintama and Osomatsu-san, so this sequel ought to be infused with enough humor to smooth its transition into the 21st century. I just hope its tonal and aesthetic changes don’t send old school fans into a lather.

Shows We’re Anticipating

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure:
Steel Ball Run

Studio: David Production
Directors: Toshiyuki Katou, Yasuhiro Kimura, Hideya Takahashi
Series composition: Yasuko Kobayashi
Source: Manga

The Premise: A paraplegic former horse jockey and a supernaturally gifted executioner compete to win 50 million dollars by racing across the American Wild West.

Nobody knows quite what Steel Ball Run’s airing schedule is going to be, so it may not truly belong to the winter season, but given that its double length premiere is definitively releasing in mid-March, I decided to include it here. JoJo fans have been waiting on this one for a while – it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that SBR (the series’ seventh part) is what many of them have been dreaming of since the anime was rebooted in 2012. Even for casuals like me who disembarked from the JoJo Express years ago, this is a major deal, since Steel Ball Run takes place in an alternate timeline and introduces a new power called the Spin that partially reworks the series’ combat (for the better, in my opinion). The trailer has generated a bunch of excitement for its (partially) traditional depiction of horses, but animation has never been the JoJo reboot’s strong point, so I’m expecting to see more 3DCG the deeper we get into the titular race. Rather, it’s the character designs and poses that make JJBA what it is, and with the change in character designers between parts 6 and 7, the anime’s visual appeal will be subtly different than in years past. Still, a widely beloved twist on the JoJo formula is too promising to let production concerns dampen anyone’s spirits, so I’ll be saddling up with the rest of you when the show debuts in a few months.

The Darwin Incident

Studio: Bellnox Films
Directors: Katsuichi Nakayama, Naokatsu Tsuda
Series composition: Shinichi Inozume
Source: Manga

The Premise: A half-human, half-chimpanzee high school student’s life is threatened when the eco-terrorist organization that freed his primate mother resurfaces.

This is the first of the “trio of manga adaptations” I referenced in the opening paragraph, and probably the most prestigious of the three. Darwin Jihen previously won both the 15th Manga Taisho and an Excellence Prize at the final Japanese Media Arts Festival (which I hope will be revived after its COVID-induced shutdown). Does that mean its anime version is guaranteed to be good? Not at all, but its production at Bellnox Films places it within a recent trend of noteworthy sci-fi manga receiving equally noteworthy adaptations at relatively new studios (see also: Dead Dead Demon, Takopi’s Original Sin). Director Katsuichi Nakayama was previously handpicked by Hideaki Anno to assist with NGE’s Rebuild quadrilogy, which I assume has given him enormous industry pull. Darwin’s PV is impressive, if not on the level of the two sci-fi shows I mentioned earlier, so I’m letting my optimist flag fly on this one – hopefully I won’t have to lower it to half mast due to the involvement of Naokatsu Tsuda, who’s directed two original duds in a row at two different studios. Even he wouldn’t dare to derail source material of this caliber…right?

You and I Are Polar Opposites

Studio: Lapin Track
Director: Takakazu Nagatomo
Series composition: Teruko Utsumi
Source: Manga

The Premise: A fashionable, outgoing high school accidentally admits her feelings for the quietest boy in her class, who immediately agrees to date her.

Polar Opposites (“Seihantai na Kimi to Boku”) is yet another ‘opposites attract’ high school romcom with a bunch of quirky classmates constituting its secondary cast. I haven’t glanced at a single one of its manga’s many panels, but there are a few good signs surrounding this adaptation that have me crossing my fingers on its behalf. One is that the manga ended after an exceedingly reasonable 71 chapters, despite being one of Jump+’s biggest new series so far this decade, which indicates that the author respected her characters enough not to slow their story to a crawl (even when her editor likely advised her to do so). Another is all the fun animation in the trailer, deforming not just the female lead’s facial expressions, but her entire body into simple outlines filled with rainbow gradients or blush marks. It’s not on the level of something like Bocchi the Rock, but its approach ought to effectively contrast the heroine with her stone-faced boyfriend. Finally, there’s Lapin Track, for whom Polar Opposites seems to be a well-chosen rung on the ladder to becoming a Science Saru-esque studio. Like Saru, they’re using adaptations like this one to develop new talent while biding time for their big original works (in Lapin Track’s case, that’d be Sayonara Lara, which is set to premiere this year). I like the path they’re on as a company, so I hope this show does well for them – and that it’s a success in its own right, of course!

Highest Expectations

Ikoku Nikki

Studio: Shuka
Director: Miyuki Ooshiro
Series composition: Kouhei Kiyasu
Source: Manga

The Premise: A reclusive novelist becomes her teenage niece’s guardian after the deaths of her sister and brother-in-law.

An adaptation of an acclaimed josei manga, written by the guy who scripted Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru and featuring music by Kensuke Ushio? Shut up and take my money IP address! As usual, I haven’t read the source material for my most anticipated show of the season, so I can’t personally attest to its strength, but seeing as it’s a character piece with an adult protagonist, it’s right up my alley. Said protagonist’s resentment toward her deceased sister should complicate the relationship she’ll form with her orphaned niece, and the focus on writing (she encourages her new ward to journal her grief) reminds me a bit of Fune wo Amu, one of my favorite anime of the modern era. Unlike that show, though, Ikoku Nikki’s animation looks to be quite average. Shuka is a second-rate studio, and director Ooshiro, despite having contributed to many solid titles in the past, is a first-timer without an abundance of ED experience. For a series like this one, I’m wishing her and the rest of the team all the best – if they can meet (or even exceed) expectations, this could be a stealth AOTY candidate.

Sousou no Frieren S2

Studio: Madhouse
Director: Tomoya Kitagawa
Series composition: Tomohiro Suzuki
Source: Manga

The Premise: Frieren, Fern and Stark continue their northward journey, battling monsters and encountering allies from the first class mage exam.

The first season of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End was a revelation for fantasy fans both old and new. There had never been anything else like it in the TV anime sphere, and even now that its second season will air in the same year as both Witch Hat Atelier (unless it’s delayed again) and Dungeon Meshi S2, it’s unlikely to surrender its crown. There is a minor question mark hanging over its upcoming 2026 run, however: Keiichirou Satou has moved to an AD position and given the reins to Tomoya Kitagawa, a first-time series director. The latter man personally oversaw three episodes of the first season, and his broader resume is promising, but Satou has been hailed by industry veterans as a tremendous talent, so Kitagawa has big shoes to fill. What’s more, he’ll have to fill them while adapting material that some fans claim diminishes in power over time. I’ve not read the manga, but my least favorite aspect of the first anime’s run was everything to do with demons, and this sequel will swiftly reach an arc named after a prominent demon general. I’m still expecting greatness from Frieren, as its creative team is largely intact and its characters still occupy the positive part of my memory bank – I’m simply not predicting perfection.

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