January 15, 2026

Winter 2026

Looking at my selections on Anime Chart, I see five returning series and five new things.

Is there any chance I'm gonna keep up with that much?

Hell no!

Returning series:
Sousou no Frieren
Mato Seihei no Slave
Vigilante -Boku no Hero Academia ILLEGALS
Hime-sama "Goumon" no Jikan desu
GANGLION

New series:
Mayonaka Heart Tune
Fate/strange Fake
Toumei Otoko to Ningen Onna: Sonouchi Fuufu ni Naru Futari
Jingai Kyoushitsu no Ningengirai Kyoushi
Goumon Baito-kun no Nichijou

I'm almost unsure which category to put the new Fate in, since the first episode came out over two years ago, but then, I never got around to watching it, so I'll call it new.

I could explain my choices if anyone cares, and if anyone wants to see the promotional videos, translated titles, airdates and all kinds of other useful information, the link to Livechart.me is on the side. It really is an essential resource for keeping track of all the anime I'm saving for retirement, or losing in a hard drive crash before that happens....

Posted by: Mauser at 02:18 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 175 words, total size 2 kb.

1 And my first drop.Goumon Baito-kun no Nichijou.
I'm reminded of an SF story where a guy gets drafted to be a state torturer because of his reluctance for the job. They swear it will only be used for the worst of the worst, but over the course of 20 years, instead of terrorists and mass murderers, it's being employed to extract confessions for increasingly minor crimes, he hates it, but he can't quit. Until finally, the guy who recruited him is sent in for a traffic ticket, and he reaches willingly for the flensing knife.... 

This has absolutely none of the social criticism angle. They set up the idea that there are torture companies, and it's legal to get confessions out of the worst of the worst, and then completely shunt that into the background as a collection of dysfunctional and weird characters engage in wacky office and extracurricular hijinks.

Posted by: Mauser at January 15, 2026 04:24 PM (XWgGM)

2 On the other hand, Hime-sama "Goumon" no Jikan desu was just as much silly fun that was actually humorous as it was in the first season. The "torture" is just temptation, and I'm very pleased to see more of Torture Tortura, my favorite demon-girl. And the way they broke the meta, with the Demon Lord celebrating that his favorite anime got a second season (because, of course, this is the first episode of the second season), was just as amusing as the way they knocked down the whole Isekai conceit in the last episode last season.

Posted by: Mauser at January 15, 2026 05:05 PM (XWgGM)

3 Frieren picks up literally where it left off, which is fine. I kinda missed this feeling.

Posted by: Mauser at January 19, 2026 09:02 PM (XWgGM)

4 The first third of Mayonaka Heart Tune was REALLY hard to get through. The Protagonist was such an overblown conceited ass that I almost punted right there. But I figured I should at least finish. I owed that much to the shy, white-haired vTuber girl. But the rest of them were bitches.
Oh, the plot? In middle school the guy used to listen to a live podcast by a girl around his age. Sometimes he was the only audience, and they conversed. Then she quit. And he used all the clues from their conversations to go seriously stalker, and fortunately, the school he figured out she wanted to go to went co-ed just in time. And now he's inflicting himself on the four girls in the Broadcasting club because they all have hints of the podcaster in their voices.
Amazingly, he actually straight-up asks if any of them was "Apollo", and they all say no. So there you go, the series should end right there at the 9 minute mark. But no. Apollo quit, so one of these girls MUST be her and won't admit it because of whatever made her quit.
Facepalm.

Posted by: Mauser at January 23, 2026 07:05 PM (XWgGM)

5 Toumei Otoko to Ningen Onna: Not typically my speed. It's a very calm romance story between a woman who can't see and a man who can't be seen. I'm sure it's going to continue to be a comedy of manners with very few real challenges. Set in a pseudo European city with humans, kemonos, elves and even some aliens, as well as mythicals like our invisible detective, Tonome. And he's not even really an adventurous type, just doing infidelity and missing persons. While he's fully invisible with his body, his clothing can be shown or hidden.
Shizuka is able to perceive him though, and I think that's part of his interest.
The agency also employs Kikira, another human who seems grumpy and tired all the time, and Jaraski, who is probably meant to be some kind of cat based on the manga I looked up, and she is as aggressive as Shizuka is timid.

There's an inordinate focus on blended teas in the first two episodes. Where we get introduced to a married couple of a white elf and a dark elf who own a tea shop.
It's pleasant and inconsequential. It will probably get neglected as the season goes on, but it's not bad.

Posted by: Mauser at January 25, 2026 09:12 PM (XWgGM)

6 Mato Seihei no Slave: In a series where every single aspect of it makes no scientific or social sense, The thing that is really bugging me this season is that they figured out that after Kyouka "Enslaves" Yuuki, other people can take his chain resulting in a transformation more suited to their powers. Now everyone wants to try and folks get jealous. And of course, everyone gets to pay the "reward" to Yuuki. What's annoying about this is how everyone acts like this is a shocking result, and Yuuki acting all horrified at these women granting HIS fantasies. I tell you, if I were one of these women and someone reacted with terror at my granting a (relatively tame) fantasy, I'd be fucking pissed.

And oh, they seem to have forgotten the whole fighting monsters in the other dimension thing and are spending more time on inter-division exercises, and now, in episode 5 (I'm a bit behind) there's a god-damn familial tournament arc starting, with its own private alternate dimension to take place in. Full or powers-rule-lawyering, and talking instead of fighting.

Posted by: Mauser at March 07, 2026 08:04 PM (XWgGM)

7 Jingai Kyoushitsu no Ningengirai Kyoushi: Misanthrope teacher who is out or work and gaming gets induced to apply for a job at a school that turns out to be for Demi-humans who wish to be human. His homeroom class consists of a genki bird girl who wants to be human so she can be in Music, a super-talkative mermaid who wants to be a dancer (She's already achieved legs), a grumpy and suspicious rabbit girl who nevertheless wants to repay a human kindness, and super shy werewolf girl who wants to become fully human, because she sometimes changes into a human who is not herself.

I'm not really feeling it in the first episode (And I've got almost the whole season!) but I'll at least stick out until they introduce the cat girl in the goth/maid outfit who sleeps all over campus.

Posted by: Mauser at March 20, 2026 04:42 PM (XWgGM)

8 Fun thing in Jingai Kyoushitsu no Ningengirai Kyoushi, in the second episode it's revealed that the shy werewolf girl turns into a Gyaru on the day of the full moon.

Posted by: Mauser at March 29, 2026 02:30 PM (XWgGM)

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