I can’t believe we’ve finally made it to the Summer season. My honest opinion is that Summer is just going to rule the whole anime season. For me there’s nothing quite that compares to this season in terms of packing in shows that I’m extremely hyped for.

Not saying that I’m lacking appreciation for Spring. It was overall a solid season that kept me going and provided just enough to enjoy. But I’ll also admit that it was light enough that I ended up sinking back into the Precure fun. Not necessarily because the Spring season had nothing, but this Precure season was really delivering. I am going to miss Last Boss Queen S2 because that season has really risen above even the first season in my eyes. It’s always going to be tough to say goodbye to shows that won me over.

As usual I’ll be using both AniList and LiveChart to get an idea about what shows are coming and generally when they’ll actually start. This isn’t going to have every show since…that’s more than I can manage to comment on. But it is just laying out what shows have caught my attention in some way or another. I would love to hear what has people excited from this season since I know many hyped shows won’t be on my personal watch list.

Series of Highest Interest

These are the shows I’m the most excited about. Odds are that’s because I’m familiar enough with a previous season/source material. But I may just have gotten excited by the summary or trailer. If these don’t turn out to be good that will be rather disappointing.

Here we go! The final Bleach season. When the show first came back in 2022 it’d been dormant for a decade. I never thought there’d be an adaptation to conclude the manga. But here we are in 2026 and we’re going to see the end of this thing. Yhwach (whose name is still fun to say) truly unleashed incredible horrors upon the main cast. This story has pulled out everything from the characters and sometimes it simply hasn’t been enough.

But it all ends here. Can Ichigo stop this guy and stop destruction that would swallow up everything from the Soul Society to Earth itself? Probably, but it’s going to be a ride to see how that happens since his opponent is tougher than anything he’s ever seen. The action is going to be incredible, the music will be great, and this likely will be one of the top shows for me in 2026.

What a difference a few years can make. Went from not really getting into the show to it being one of my most anticipated series for 2026. There’s no much that can happen here. The world of Mushoku Tensei is just rich. There’s the more focused story around Rudy and his (presently) two lovely wives. But there’s the forces that isekai’d him in the first place, the incident that scattered his family, the tragic state of his mother, and he’s got a young child coming into the world. It’s truly a special series. You just don’t get franchises that straight up give the protagonist a kid and keep the story moving! The promo image for the season is both hype and concerning in terms of what might happen.

Now here’s a show that I’m really happy to have back. This show is easily one of my favourite and best harems that I’ve gotten to enjoy. The ability to continually add to the cast while balancing out the characters takes pure skill. Rentarou is one of the best harem leads and someone who absolutely deserves the harem he’s got going. No one puts as much of himself into the relationship as this man does.

It’ll be great to see the familiar faces again. Karane is always perfect, but the cast is so good that I could spend way too long complimenting all of them. Safe to say this will be another highlight of the entire year for me. Going to be hard to figure out what I want to cover this season!

It’s a new Nanoha series! Was there any doubt that I’d have this in any tier other than this one? I’ve always enjoyed the franchise from the original season, A’s, and through the more modern adaptations/films. Detonation was pretty much the last Nanoha anime project since 2018. So it’s been a few years! Feels crazy to write that honestly.

What has me hyped though is the tone of the trailer. This isn’t just “another Nanoha series” and nothing else. There’s a real story built up around new characters and their situation. It’ll be interesting to see how it balances out the Kuze siblings and Nahona/Fate. But beyond that I just like how weighty the tone is. The series has always had some weight to it. But this just feels like a serious magical girl story which I’m completely down for. I’m ready for this show right now!

Series of Moderate Interest

These are the shows I’m somewhat excited for. While not as excited about these as the category above, I’m still pretty interested in watching these. Some have intriguing premises that if done right could make for great shows. While some have source materials that I’m sort of familiar with, but not extremely interested in. Some of these could easily turn into my favorites. That uncertainty factor can turn into a positive surprise.

I’m kind of happy to have this show back. It is one of the many isekai stories out there, but it had some nice elements to it. Kind of enjoyed the MC basically stealing the whole narrative, using his knowledge of the game to his advantage, and now he’s got both the game’s heroine and her main rival as his love interests. Plus with all the otome game isekai stories, it’s kind of funny to have one where a guy ends up in that setting.

Since the source material is complete they really can just go at this from any number of angles. Will season 2 try to put the story on hyper speed or just make a solid second season that will adapt some more of the material but still need more seasons to conclude it? Not sure, but will check it out to find out.

The trailer definitely sold me on this one. Well that and the fact that KyoAni is going to be handling it and I’m generally willing to give the shows they are making a chance. If nothing else the show is going to look great! You have a cute female lead, a male lead that will be traveling with her on an adventure and plenty of spectacle along the way. There’s just something charming about a show that invokes a feeling of adventure like this one. There’s enough here that just has be excited for the possibilities. Tough to pin it down, but it’s definitely in the moderately exciting category.

This one will be fun to have back. I enjoyed the early parts of the manga when I stumbled on it and enjoyed the first season which passed by where I’d read. So the second season will really be a mystery for me going in. I like the cute ship with Arc and Ariane. Will be interesting to see if his “curse” can be lifted and/or if he’ll admit to her about being from another world. In a world of magic I can’t see being an isekai protagonist as being completely impossible to wrap one’s head around.

It should be a fun show. Not exactly light since some terrible stuff happens (to side characters). But I’ll enjoy seeing this story continue.

Nothing like a title where you immediately know it was a light novel. I get that there’s a need to get people to check out a work of fiction, but turning the title into a small paragraph seems a bit much! That aside, I do like the look of this show. It’s got the potential to be one of the cute little romances of the season. Cute girl that is absolutely incapable under the surface and the guy she likes that is there to take care of her. Hard to say if that combination will hold up across an entire show, but it’s a good start.

I’ve been looking forward to this show since seeing the first trailer. I do enjoy giant monsters and this pretty much is the focal point of the premise. This girl ends up going Godzilla when things get heated! There’s something cute and tragic in the premise. Her condition makes her feel like an outcast, but then she’s got this great guy showing interest in her which throws everything into disarray. I don’t think anything will change in a sense since her going full kaiju is seemingly backed into the premise. But I hope for her long term future…that there’s some kind of solution. Only so much romance that can happen when going full kaiju is constantly happening.

Series of Minor Interest

These are the shows I’m still interested in, but it’s a lot weaker than the tiers above. Either the previous seasons were mixed bags for me or I just don’t have enough to work. They still get mentioned because I still think the potential is there to really surprise me. Which is more than the shows I’m not going to mention at all.

Here’s another show that I’ll enjoy having back. The manga wrapped up a while ago so it is kind of fitting to have the story picking up again. CloverWorks does great work and I know the show is going to look fantastic. It’s also just a nice bit of variety to the season since it’s not an isekai. Just a fun shounen look at Japan’s past. I like Tokiyuki as a protagonist and his supporting cast is solid too. Not my favourite franchise, but it’ll be good.

This isn’t a show that I got that into when it first came out. But it’s got a lot of the right pieces. You have Aoi Yuuki voicing absolutely crazed loli in the middle of a war. And on top of it she’s got a persona vendetta against god. And that god apparently feels the same way. Thus sending this person to another world, swapping their gender, and forcing them into a pretty brutal situation. It’ll be interesting to see how this crazy second season plays out.

It feels a bit weird to talk about this one since the first season having ended hasn’t really hit me. The split cour thing makes sense from a production point of view. But just taking a season off doesn’t quite feel season 2 worthy to me. But it’s technically airing so I still want to say something!

This show was solid. I won’t lie and say that I loved the whole cast or anything. The main couple are solid and cute, but I don’t really outright love them. This is definitely the kind of show where the secondary couples are carrying my interest more than the main one. Thankfully it does a good job handling all the different couples so I do expect to enjoy more of this. It’s just not something I’m incredibly hyped for.

Sometimes a good trailer is all you need. Another series that is promising plenty of action. I don’t mind the idea either of the protagonist merging with a partner and getting dragged into a bigger conflict. I don’t know enough about this one to be really excited for it. But it could easily be a good source of pure action and entertainment this season. But it might be a show that falls through the cracks for me since this season is absolutely packed with action.

The concept of this one is sweet and has me smiling. There’s something enjoyable about someone trying to make a fresh start. You can tell even from the summary and trailer how much Victoria has been through and how purely relieving it is to find some happiness in this fresh start. It does sound like her hopes of a completely new life will be dashed. The hero can’t escape their talents being useful in a different setting. But at least the trailer gives the impression that the story will mostly be a hopeful one where Victoria mostly gets what she wants.

This is kind of a funny one for me since I’ve been very much out of Azur Lane for years now. Other games and things just took up my interest and I fell off with it. But I’m kind of excited to come back to this silly spinoff. It’s not about the major world altering battles. It’s just a silly and lighthearted show. I expect it will also be a short (8-ish minute episodes) show so it won’t be a series that takes up a lot of time each week. It’ll be a bit goofy, full of fanservice, and a nice time.

The tricky thing will be me likely not knowing many of the characters this time around. The core of the silly group (Ayanami, Laffey, Z23, and Javelin) should remain the focus. But there’s certainly going to be a ton of new characters where I’m just dumbly nodding at instead of recognizing them!

Conclusion

It is tough for me to be completely fair with this season. This is a season with Bleach, Nanoha, 100 Girlfriends, and freaking Mushoku Tensei! This is absolutely stacked with great shows. Now maybe for some this isn’t that crazy of a season, but that’s not the case for me. It’s to the point that I’m not sure what shows I’m going to cover and which I’m going to regret not covering. That’s combined with the question of whether I’ll be sticking with Meitantei Precure for this season or not. Normally I’d 100% stay with a show that I’m already covering, but I’d also really regret not giving into my desires here.

There’s no doubt that action will be there for anyone craving some. Bleach is going to completely deliver, Nanoha will, Mushoku Tensei (depending on the plot) will, and that even includes shows like Skeleton Knight in Another World. I don’t think romances are as packed, but still have shows like You and I Are Polar Opposites to lean on. And that’s saying nothing about the shows that will fill various other niches that simply didn’t grab my attention when peering at the upcoming season. We got sequels, isekais, more historical pieces, and of course magical girls. There’s enough here for everyone.

As always I’m happy to hear about what others are excited for. Is there some overlap with what I’m excited for? Not sure. But will hope to find out about some shows I had lower on my hype list or simply didn’t include at all. Summer is probably going to be my season of the year. Winter has a good lead with shows like Frieren and Medalist. But summer should be competitive and here’s hoping everyone has at least a few shows they can look forward to. The best thing about anime is that change is constant. Even if a rough season hits…you just need to wait for a few months.