New year, new season of anime! It is Winter 2026 time! So, it’s time to talk about the shows that have already started airing and what will be airing in the coming days. If you would like a dedicated episode thread for a show that has aired but @rikka@ani.social didn’t make one, you can request it by pm. Like always, discussion about any other anime topic is also welcome!
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None of the shows I am planning on watching this season have started up yet, but there are a couple shows from this past year that I had gotten partway through that I managed to finish. In no particular order:
I knew I was going to like this show, so I was not surprised when I ended up really liking it a lot. I both loved and hated the ending. From a philosophical perspective, it was excellent, but from a narrative perspective it was a bit underwhelming. At the end of the day, this is a series that will stick with me for a long time. It was a remarkable journey into human curiosity, the motivational power of faith, the nature of knowledge, and the miracle of the written word.
I wrapped up the back half of this season after dropping off earlier in the year. It was my first ever Gundam series and I felt like I was able to keep up with the first half of the show ok. However, leading into the conclusion, I definitely felt my lack of knowledge impacted my enjoyment. Characters suddenly showed up and were referring to events from parallel timelines/universes that I had little to no knowledge of. In the end, I felt like I would have appreciated if the story stayed smaller in scope and just focused on the main trio. The space combat did look incredible though.
I powered through the end of this season…but I can’t say it was a great use of my time. The peak of this show was the first major arc of season 1. Since then, it has been fairly disappointing (even if it remains as beautifully animated as ever). The climax of this season basically amounted to the MC unlocking a bunch of new powers off screen and then using them to kindly ask the main antagonist to stop doing bad things. I don’t know if there is source material being skipped over for time, or if the story is just structured very poorly (probably a mix of both), but I kept waiting for some of the magic that the show started with to come back. It never did. I will say though that the villain for this season was great and truly terrifying. However, the season ends their arc so unceremoniously that it feels like such a huge letdown.
These were great. I especially loved the second of these two episodes that features another adventuring party that more or less mirrors our protagonists. I had somehow forgotten about these being released this past year, so it was a pleasant surprise to be able to indulge in some more KonoSuba. It was also a nice reminder of how much I really liked the OP for this season.
I wish it ended on episode 23. I may have liked the ending if it got more episodes to get used to, but the shift from the story to the philosophy lesson was too abrupt for my liking. It somewhat ruined my overall enjoyment of the show.
I think one needs to be a true Gundam fan to enjoy GQuuuuuuX. I watched first Gundam, but still felt confused at times. My biggest problem with the show, though, was the main trio and how underdeveloped those characters were. At least the animation and cinematography looked cool.
As a noob Gundam fan, I can understand the sentiment. I’d be lost too if I did not watch the 1979 series.
On the bright side, it could have been worse. Glad you enjoyed the space combat at least (but it’s quite a shame considering that the main themes of Gundam - war is driven by politics, and war is bad - may be lost on newcomers).