[00:03] their way back. Beloved games are becoming anime, studios swapping hands, title that sounds completely made up, but absolutely isn't. The second half of 2026 is shaping up to be one of the
[00:15] busiest, weirdest, most exciting stretches I've covered in a while, and I've narrowed it down to the 10 I genuinely cannot stop thinking about.
[00:39] >> Here's a name I didn't expect to see in 2026. Osamu Tezuka, the man who basically built the foundation of modern anime, is getting a fresh adaptation of his 1953 classic Princess Knight. The Ribbon Hero follows Sapphire, a princess
[00:53] that won't let a girl take the throne, and there's something quietly thrilling about a story that questioned gender roles 70 years before it was fashionable Netflix film, not a series, which tells me they're betting on it as a statement
[01:07] studio Outline is brand new, so I genuinely don't know what to expect, but the animation does look amazing. Adapting Tezuka is sacred ground. Get it right, and it honors a legend. I'm hopeful, a little protective, and very
[01:20] curious to see how this one turns out. >> [music] football on raw instinct dropped into a Tokyo youth factory where instinct
[01:33] Tokyo youth factory where instinct counts for nothing without vision.
[01:52] sports anime to wreck me the way Ao Ashi did. It's one of the most realistic sports anime and it treats the game like a thinking person's chess match with the quiet genius of seeing the whole picture at once. Season 2 has the chance
[02:06] to push Ashido deeper into that tactical maze and honestly, that's really all I want. No melodrama, no cheap rivalries, just a boy slowly learning to translate his gift into something coachable. Sports anime live or die on whether the
[02:18] growth feels earned and the first season earned every inch. I trust this one to earned every inch. I trust this one to keep its head down and keep delivering.
[02:33] respect the confidence. >> [music]
[02:53] overpowered past life, the kind of setup that's become its own crowded genre. what catches my interest is the word merciless. So many of these stories soften their leads into harmless wish fulfillment. A protagonist with actual
[03:07] suggests. If Nia is allowed to be genuinely ruthless, calculating, and stops being another comfort for isekai adjacent fantasy and becomes something with teeth. The risk is obvious. Lean too hard on power fantasy and it
[03:21] skeptical but curious, ready to be proven wrong. Sometimes a loud title is allowed for a reason. Just taking a second to remind you to be oh so kind to the channel if you're new here. Thank you.
[03:34] Few series have ever made me feel as small and as scared as Made in Abyss.
[03:59] designs and then drags you into one of the most pitiless worlds in all of anime. A descent where every layer downward costs more than the last. So coming, my reaction was equal parts joy and genuine dread. That's the magic of
[04:13] this franchise. It weaponizes beauty. The animation is gorgeous precisely so the horror lands harder. I have no idea how deep this entry takes us, but deeper in this series has always meant darker, stranger, more irreversible. I'll be
[04:25] do with something you love and fear in equal measure. Few shows earn that kind equal measure. Few shows earn that kind of grip on me. This one always has.
[04:53] and I'd nearly given up hope of seeing Tanya march back onto the screen.
[05:12] salaryman is reincarnated as a small girl in a war-torn alternate Europe in. Climbing the military ladder through sheer spiteful competence. It's bleak, it's sharp, and it has one of the most magnetic leads in the medium. A second
[05:25] political machinery that made the first so compelling. The strategy, the fully root for anyone. My only worry is the long gap. Momentum does matter and audiences have memories. keeps its bite, I'll forgive the wait instantly. Tanya's
[05:40] for me. I have a recap coming soon on my second channel Vinichuub Kai, so if you want one, make sure you subscribe to that channel.
[06:01] legend, and Ghost in the Shell is one of them.
[06:31] entire generation thinks about identity, consciousness, and what it means to be human inside a machine. So, a fresh take in 2026 makes me nervous in the best impossibly high. The originals are landmarks. They're not just entries, but
[06:45] questions this series asks have only grown sharper as our world inches closer to its premise. If the new production has anything original to say about a it could feel less like nostalgia, and more like the prophecy catching up. I
[06:59] just need to understand why they mattered. Now, that's a tall order. mattered. Now, that's a tall order. >> [music]
[07:16] >> Momo is, without exaggeration, one of my favorite protagonist in recent memory.
[07:40] I avoided this anime, but I have been proven wrong. A poison-obsessed apothecary navigating Imperial court politics with a curiosity that borders series sing? How it fuses cozy mystery of the week structure with this
[07:53] slow-burning, deliciously understated romance all wrapped in lush period scope without losing its intimacy, which is a tightrope most shows fall off of. central mysteries and finally let some
[08:06] love that this franchise trusts its [music] audience to it subtlety to enjoy reveal. It's comfort [music] and intrigue in the same breath. Of that I'm going to be settling in with the most contentment. Tea in hand, ready
[08:20] the most contentment. Tea in hand, ready to be delighted. [music]
[09:04] new season, well, really season 5 if you're being honest, premieres in 2026. We're getting Devil Union training, Nacht's full power, Yuno coming back launching their counterattack to save Yami and William. Everything Tabata-san
[09:19] spent the whole manga building toward. Hot take, Black Clover is one of the most underrated battle shonen of the 2010s, and people slept on it because season is the redemption arc. I can't wait for that intro to drop and ruin OUR
[09:32] wait for that intro to drop and ruin OUR WEEKENDS AGAIN.
[09:50] the kind of news that makes me sit up straight.
[10:19] play, shinobi resolve, and a haunted blood-soaked corner of Sengoku era Japan, material practically begging for animation. The big question hanging over punishing deliberate rhythm of the game translates into some of the most kinetic
[10:33] action of the year. But, get it wrong, and it becomes a generic samurai show wearing a familiar name. Adaptations of beloved games are a minefield. For every tale, isn't there? But, the raw ingredients here are extraordinary. And,
[10:46] atmosphere of solitude and obsession, then this one really could be something special. I'm bracing myself either way. Hesitation is defeat in Sekiro, and I'm Hesitation is defeat in Sekiro, and I'm choosing to be all in.
[11:10] its way back from the dead and reminded everyone why it ruled the 2000s.
[11:38] a relentless showcase of gorgeous animation, escalating stakes, and a studio clearly out for blood after years of dormancy. The next core pushes deeper the part of the manga where loyalties shatter and the cost of every battle
[11:51] becomes painfully real. I came back to Bleach expecting nostalgia and got and that turnaround still actually amazes me. Watching a franchise that was one of the rare joys this hobby offers. I've already got a recap video out and
[12:04] want to scream your lungs out on number one, >> [music] >> now is your chance.
[12:26] The back half [music] of 2026 is going to be a ride, and I can't wait.