The upcoming winter 2026 season of anime has so many high profile sequels. There’s Frieren season 2, Jujutsu Kaisen season 3, and the Fire Force finale, just to name a few. This article isn’t discussing any of those shows. They already have their fan bases and hype. What I’ll be focusing on instead are the new shows with less excitement surrounding them. These are anime that you might not have heard of. And trust me when I say that some of these anime are looking to be the next big thing.
Sentenced To Be A Hero
When you think of the word hero, what usually comes to mind is courageous, noble people willing to risk their lives to help others. Sentenced To Be A Hero takes that expectation and throws it into the gutter. In this anime, heroes are felons who are forced to enter the military and fight Demon Lords terrorizing the planet. If you try to die, someone resurrects you and sends you back out to fight.
Xylo Forbartz leads one of these units. He meets a goddess in a coffin named Teoritta who can summon all kinds of swords, and forms a pact with her so that he can survive the war and take revenge on the people who forced him into disgrace. While Xylo and Teoritta are the two main characters, the anime centers around the entire unit of felons. from a master of petty theft to an embezzler as they fight, die and survive against the army of demons. There’s war, intrigue, magic, and incredible battles that are looking to have some of the best animation of the year.
Journal With Witch
Losing your parents is difficult. Having it happen when you’re a fifteen year old teenager is magnitudes worse. In Journal with Witch, Asa Takumi loses her parents in a car crash. In the midst of this tragedy, her aunt Makio Koudai adopts Asa after no other relative wants to take her in. Along with this, she encourages Asa to start writing a diary as a way to process her loss and emotions. Makio is a thirty five year old novelist with no parenting experience. She has to adjust to these new responsibilities in her life while Asa deals with her grief.
The anime is a drama that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. It’s a story about gaining new relationships while at the same time dealing with the sudden loss of the people closest to you. Journal with Witch is a must watch for people interested in character dramas and seeing how people accept themselves and their emotions.
The Darwin Incident
An eco-terrorist organization called the Animal Liberation Alliance breaks into an animal testing lab and frees the captive animals, including a pregnant chimpanzee. She then gives birth to a half human, half chimpanzee hybrid named Charlie! He’s adopted and raised by foster parents, who send him to a public high school fifteen years later. But just as he makes his first human friend, a girl named Lucy, the Animal Liberation Alliance comes back.
Do you enjoy watching monkeys do things? Do you enjoy thriller plots based around environmental and conservation concerns? Does seeing a Japanese take on America sound interesting? Then The Darwin Incident is the tailor made anime for you.
You And I Are Polar Opposites
It’s always difficult understanding what romantic love feels like. It gets even harder when you’re attracted to someone who has the complete opposite personality as you. You And I Are Polar Opposites is a manga adaptation about two high schoolers who, despite acting completely different, also love each other. The girl, Miyu, is an outgoing extrovert with an expressive personality. Meanwhile, the guy Yuusuke likes keeping to himself and is very subdued. There are other members of the friend group as well, like the cynical Shuuji and shy, socially awkward Natsumi.
While the premise may sound very generic, the execution is what sells it. The cast has tons of chemistry between each other. The series takes a very psychological look into what romance truly means, all while maintaining a lighthearted tone. It’s a very honest and earnest look into how romance forms, and with the production looking extremely solid, I’d recommend it to any romance fans out there.
Love Through A Prism
The journey to create art is never easy. It’s even harder as an exchange student moving to a foreign country, and you have to produce results in only half a year. It’s almost impossible when you start to love your rival for the number one spot at the academy. Love Through A Prism is an original anime about Japanese exchange student Lili Ichijouin, who attends the elite Saint Thomas Art Academy in England at the beginning of the 20th century. While there she meets Kit Church, a detached yet talented art student who has ties to the aristocracy, and the two start a budding romance.
This anime is a more dramatic romance, complete with commentary on the struggles of artists and the pressures placed on the aristocracy. There’s tons of exciting moments like car chases, and calmer moments where the characters are drawing or painting. There’s an enemies to lovers plot between the two leads that looks to actually have some weight and character reasons behind it. If you’re looking for a more dramatic, female oriented romance, Love Through A Prism is looking to be a good time.
This Season Is Stacked
So there you have it. Along with the overflowing amount of high profile sequels, there’s a lineup of new anime that deserve just as much attention. Even if you’re not going to watch any of the sequels airing next January, there’s tons of new shows that are looking to be a good time, no matter what genre you’re interested in. From serious character dramas to heart pumping fantasy adventures, Winter 2026 has it all!
