Winter 2026 Anime Season Review — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] Jujutsu Kaisen just showed the world that 20 minutes straight of nothing but yapping can be interesting, Fates Strange Fae came through its back-to-back visual spectacle, Sentence to be a Hero is quickly shaping up to be one of the most promising shows I've seen in a while, and Shibou Yugi playing

[00:15] death games to put food on the table is one of the most beautifully grotesque shows you'll ever come across. Welcome back to another episode of This Month in Anime. As we all know, the ongoing Winter 2026 is one of the best seasons of anime ever and as such, here's a video going over the stuff from

[00:30] it that stood out to me. Of course, I will make dedicated videos about some of these shows, I at least try to, assuming I have time left over after milking Fumilike for all it's worth, but for now, here's an all-encompassing review of the entire season. Make sure to subscribe,

[00:45] I don't usually talk about numbers here, but we are quite close to that 20,000 subscribers mark, so any help on that front would be highly appreciated. Just subscribe, it takes a second, just go down there and subscribe. You can also become a member of this channel. Members get at

[00:59] least two exclusive videos per month, custom badges and emojis, shoutouts and more. Just go down there and press the join button. Let's start with Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 3 aka The

[01:14] Yap Episode. Let's talk about it for a second because it was interesting. Let's put it that Let's start with the positives. This episode was a directorial masterclass. Series director and storyboard artist Shota Goshozono was presented with the Herculean task of making 20 straight minutes of loading screen tutorials look interesting and somehow, someway that madman did it, I have no idea how.

[01:36] Think about it, on paper, this episode was about as dull as humanly possible. It was basically one big, not particularly entertaining conversation taking place in one location and featuring the same few characters. It had absolutely no variety whatsoever, both visually and narrative-wise, it was one big

[01:53] exposition dump, but despite that, Goshizono and team made it work. Through visual aids like flowcharts, diagrams and maps, snappy aedidemic pacing, brilliant music cues, complex eye-catching compositions, phenomenal drawings and a flawless sense of

[02:07] aesthetic, Goshizono crafted an episode that was about as engaging as an info-dumped episode can possibly be, again, not when his brain is wide different. With all that being said though, there is another aspect of this episode that we need to talk about, the actual content and brace ourselves because I'm afraid I won't be as positive this time around.

[02:26] Look, in my opinion, this episode was not good. Content-wise, it was dull and boring. Yes, the staff did their best, coaches were no good, the whole nine yards, but ignoring that for a second and focusing exclusively on the content being adapted, this episode was just not good.

[02:42] Jesus Christ is my all favorite Patrick Shonin but even I am having a hard time defending 20 straight minutes of World Salad I saw some fans online get on the highest of horses and portray this episode as this deep intellectual thing

[02:56] that those simple-minded shonen monkeys couldn't comprehend and that made me laugh. It genuinely did. As someone who does read plenty of deep intellectual stuff, let me assure you, this was not it. This was just boring. It was terms and conditions, the episode.

[03:10] Everything, just because the information conveyed in this episode was important, doesn't mean it made for good viewing. I think there's a storytelling concept about it, something about exposition being the metaphorical vegetables of the meal, something you need to shove down your throat to get to the meat,

[03:24] the fun stuff, there's a joke in there somewhere. Now yes, even if this episode was deep and philosophical, as long as it didn't feature cis-flying, a section of the fanbase would hate it, that's true, but two things can be true at once, showman fans kinda suck, and this episode, content-wise, kinda sucked,

[03:40] both are true independently of each other. I've said this before, in my opinion, Gege Akutami got too heavy handed with expositions and load dumps during the coloring games arc. It's one of the few things I don't like about JJK, that and the ending.

[03:54] He would go on and on about random ass curse techniques and battle strategies involving throwaway characters. It was a bit annoying, I hate to repeat myself, but it was. It wasn't ideal. Anyway, at the end of the day, it's just a single episode, who really cares?

[04:12] this month in anime video so I certainly don't tell y'all about anything on here and you shouldn't either. Moving on, let's talk about Fate Strange Fake, one of the coolest, most fun shows currently airing. Strange Fake is the newest Fate IP featuring major names like Shun Enokido, Takahito Sakazume,

[04:29] Haku Yugo and more and it's a ton of fun. The characters have a lot of personality, the dialogue is snappy and entertaining, the plot is quite exciting, it's great plus the visuals are so damn stylish. and Sakazume's modern sensibilities coupled with their hands-on involvement

[04:44] made the first three episodes of this show incredibly enjoyable, audiovisually speaking. Of course, the animation wasn't perfect. It is a messy production at the end of the day and the final product is less bad. Quite a bit of melt and drawing inconsistencies, but by and large, it's a great-looking project.

[05:01] By the way, here's a fun quiz. The character designer of the Chainsaw Man anime, Kazutaka Tsubiyama, worked on an episode of Strange Fakes. Can you guess which scene he animated across all three, technically four episodes? Think about it. Pause the video if needed. I'll wait.

[05:16] Done? Great. If your answer is the only scene involving a chainsaw coming out of someone's body, congratulations, you are correct. And if that wasn't your answer, why? Why would you think anything else? Of course he animated the scene with a chainsaw. Of course he did.

[05:30] Anyway, like I said, fun show. I wouldn't recommend letting it be your first exposure to the Fate series. By the way I would still strongly recommend starting with the visual novel but that a lost cause at this point so whatever Sentenced to be a hero a bleak gritty dark fantasy a very good looking one might I add that genuinely took me by surprise This show is great it checks all the right boxes for me

[05:51] the characters are seemingly well written, neither too naive, nor too edgy, the plot is interesting, the world building is really solid, the visuals are great, it's the whole package. More about the visuals, because what else will I hyperfixate on? Of course,

[06:04] This is a messy production just like Fate Strange 3, and it too has visual issues. The staff lists are extremely concerning, with comically large animation director and second-key animator counts, and the final product, especially the second episode,

[06:17] had a few visual cracks, hadn't there? Your typical modern animation mannequins, basically, which was my quote, you can't have nice things. Despite all that though, the show still has a lot of personality, visually speaking. It

[06:29] doesn't feel like a box-standard fantasy anime, and that's like half the battle. The team has clearly put a lot of thought, effort and resources into this show especially the first episode and the results speak for themselves. Also, I can only imagine how much of a pain in

[06:44] the ass those monster drawings were. Overall, really promising. I just hope the production doesn't collapse. Moving on, let's talk about Shiboyugi, the newest offering from director extraordinaire Sota Ueno and a strong contender for the coveted anime of the season title,

[06:59] coveted given the competition. This show is something else, so much so that it's impossible for me to describe it using words alone, you guys have to see it for yourselves. From the unique audiovisual aesthetic to the shocking plot, complete with some of the most tastefully

[07:13] stomach-churning shit you'll ever see, it's one hell of an experience. The first episode of this show was basically one big self-contained introduction arc, and it was perfect from front to back, but I was a bit skeptical. Sure, the episode was great, mainly thanks to its shock

[07:28] value and visceral quality, but where will it go, I wondered. Will it build an overarching story, or will it stick to being a death game of the week show and fall victim to the law of diminishing returns? Well, I don't have the answer yet, but what I can tell you was

[07:42] the second episode was incredible as well. Despite the fact that it simply started a different game instead of building an overarching story, it immediately hooked me in, so I'll shut the fuck up for now and let the show take me on the ride it's taking me on.

[07:55] Wash it all away, an incredibly wholesome, cozy slice of life that I would absolutely recommend, assuming you like shows where a grand total of absolutely nothing happens. This show is great, the atmosphere is on point, I love the laid back, not rural, but small town feel it has,

[08:11] plus the characters are really likeable, it's great, I love it. On a similar note, The Demon King's Daughter is Too Kind is yet another simple, wholesome show that I personally love. There's just, there's something incredibly compelling about its naive simplicity, if that makes sense.

[08:26] It just good vibes for anime most of you probably won think of it too highly but I know I love stuff like this when done right With those titles out of the way let pre through a few interesting sequels in no particular order

[08:40] Hell's Paradise Season 2 is decent. That's a good word, decent. I'd like to say it looks better than the disastrous Season 1, but here's the thing, the first three or four episodes of Season 1 didn't look bad either.

[08:52] Things really started to crumble from Episode 4 onwards, so I don't want to make any decorative statements yet, as some of you may remember I had to swallow my words last time. I did notice some minor compositing improvements, though some small stuff hadn't there,

[09:05] although I wouldn't exactly call the compositing good, that might be stretching things too far. Calling the compositing good is a bit of a reach. The action animation was quite cool, though, loved this stylized sequence in particular, so at least there's that.

[09:19] Firehose Season 3 came through with its best-looking episode the other day, best of season 3 that is, not the entire series. The animation was really solid, the direction was surprisingly good and the overall aesthetic was perfect. They nailed the sky and water in the

[09:32] second half and thanked a lot for that. As some of you can probably tell, that stuff is important to the story, it's not just, oh look, cool art style. While we're on the topic of Fire Force, let's also briefly talk about the pacing because it has a lot of fans worried, myself included. Basically,

[09:48] Part 2 aka the finales, rushing through the manga at breakneck speeds, adapting upwards of 7 chapters each episode, which wouldn't be good except, I don't know, weirdly enough, the anime doesn't feel rushed, if that makes sense. I don't remember every individual chapter,

[10:03] but the anime doesn't feel like it's rushing through the manga, probably because the stuff it's removing wasn't all that memorable or important to begin with. Of course, things can go south in the future quite easily, both in terms of the pacing and the visuals, but

[10:17] For now, I'm actually feeling hopeful. I hope it can keep up that momentum. Freedom Season 2 was yet another promising sequel. The story was more of the same, which is good, and it doesn't look like the show has taken much of a hit visually.

[10:30] It still has the aesthetic that made Season 1 so captivating, and the animation quality seems to be on point, especially during the action scenes. I'm sure the short 10 episodes runtime helped with that. I think if the team plays their cards right, this season can end up being a worthy successor

[10:45] to the production juggernaut that was season one. I'm really looking forward to the remaining nine episodes. P.S. it's not really important but I'll mention it because why not? Rating this season this highly off of a single episode is immensely stupid in my opinion. In fact, assigning a rating to a

[11:02] show before it ends is stupid in and of itself, but hey, it is my animalist. It's not exactly a convocation of critical thinkers. F***ing FNAB was number one on there for years. Like, come on.

[11:14] Anyway, that's about it. A special thanks to Node-03, Amir, and the Galus90 for becoming Tier 3 members, and until next time.