Kamiina Botan,
Yoeru Sugata wa Yuri no Hana
Short Synopsis: A college freshman flirts with her dormmates and tries various alcoholic drinks for the first time.
Wooper: Kamiina Botan had a good first episode, displaying its solid character acting and animation at every opportunity, but it felt lightweight to me (and I’m not talking about the protagonist’s tolerance for alcohol). The banter between its all-female cast didn’t lead anywhere concrete, the girls’ studies were discussed but not given much weight, and their relationships seemed destined to be confined to their picturesque dormitory. None of that is new for slice of life anime, but the teasing tone of their conversations and the way they unfailingly circled back to drinking made the premiere seem slight somehow. I’m sure my being a non-drinker contributed to that sensation, so putting my bias aside for a moment, this really was a successful first outing. The depiction of Hitsujiyama Park in the opening minutes was quite fetching, the show’s sense of fashion is understated yet attractive, and the while the dialogue wasn’t exactly natural, its lightness made it easy to watch. Also, the eyecatches were superb – it likely wouldn’t be feasible to illustrate an entire TV series with that more detailed approach, but if one ever came along that did, I’d watch the whole thing for the visuals alone. Kamiina Botan’s existing style is perfectly adequate, though, and it’s a bit more grown up than most SoL series. I don’t think I’ll be picking it up, but even if you prefer your anime with a bit more plot, you might like it better than I did.
Potential: 45%
Drops of God
Short Synopsis: The son of a late renowned wine entrepreneur tastes the wines that his father left behind.
Mario: Kami no Shizuku’s main appeal is easy to see: it’s a love letter to wine, wine-tasting and basically everything wine. The premise the show is aiming for is interesting as well: protagonist Kanzaki and his rival have to find the legendary “Twelve Apostles” wines, and ultimately the “Drops of God” wine. It nails many key moments – the 360 degree panning when he pours the wine, for example. What the show doesn’t do well, though, is trying to cram too many plots into this episode. At the moment, Kanzaki is facing multiple different conflicts such as: 1) find out the name of the wine he just tastes so that he can stay in his father’s house, 2) find the replacement to the wine his love interest accidentally drops, and 3) the bigger plot about the Twelve Apostles and the Drops of God. In addition, the 3D liquid animation is far from seamless and even distracting at times. But overall, despite not being the best premiere, I can say that this one is a keeper.
Potential: 40%
Fist of the North Star (2026)
Short Synopsis: A musclebound martial artist saves a civilian settlement from an assault by a biker gang in postapocalyptic Japan.
Wooper: I’ve seen the first few episodes of the 1984 Hokuto no Ken anime, and this episode followed the same beats as the original premiere, so it looks like the franchise is getting a full reboot. You know what else it looks like? Shit, that’s what. TMS Entertainment really gave Fist of the North Star the Berserk (2016) treatment, using CG animation primarily to keep everything on model rather than create complex movements via character rigging. The opening flashforward to Kenshiro and Shin’s showdown lasted 30 seconds, only half of which was spent on mediocre-looking combat. Beyond that, we got a few repetitive kicks and punches as Kenshiro took out Zeed’s biker gang, some of which were abbreviated with black lines cutting through the frame rather than showing people making bodily contact with one another. Even for a story set in a nuclear wasteland, the color design was dire, with a temporary shift to a grayscale fight scene being the only reprieve from its aggressive ugliness. Bat’s hairstyle was manga-accurate to the point of stupidity, many of the non-closeup shots felt empty due to the prioritization of background elements, and the characters’ inflexible facial expressions proved that Japan’s 3D animation wing being stuck in the 2000s isn’t just a meme, at least for this team. I’m not a Hokuto no Ken enthusiast, so my opinion doesn’t count for much here, but I expect this reimagining will appeal mostly to existing fans desperate for more “content.”
Potential: Already dead
The post Spring 2026 Impressions: Kamiina Botan, Drops of God, Fist of the North Star (2026) appeared first on Star Crossed Anime.
