Most anime seasons follow the same pattern for me: I open LiveChart.me, pick around ten shows that look interesting, and finish three or four of them.
For Summer 2026, I had a brilliant idea: what if I tried to follow 40 anime instead?
Spoilers: I only finished 18 of them, but the surprising part was that keeping up never felt impossible. As long as I watched each episode shortly after it aired, the shows became part of my weekly routine. Eventually, I started recognizing the day of the week by which anime had released. Somehow, watching too much anime made me more conscious of time.
The Anime List
This is not a ranking of 40 anime I completed. It is a ranking of my experiences with shows I loved, shows I finished against my better judgment, shows I dropped, and a few I never properly started.
What I loved!
1. Sayonara Lara
This is definitely the Elephant in the room. I have not been shy with my friends on my deep love for this series. It is without a doubt one of the best anime I’ve seen in a while… Welp, there are some doubts, specially due to its divisive ending and a whole conversation about yuri baiting allegations and things like that, and while I can see where those critics come from, it’s also truth that many reasoning about the ending feels at time unfair / short sighted.
I wrote what I thought about the ending (very fresh thoughts) in this reddit comment (it’s on spanish though) and I even made a presentation where i defended it to my friends. Since then, I’ve had time to better digest it and kindof agree with the feeling of betrayal in the sense of wholesome / feels good views, although I think this is more deep than just saying it’s a bad ending. I feel satisfied when it comes to Lara’s story.
2. Iron Wok Jan!
It’s refreshing to have a protagonist such as Jan at the same time to have an studio and team the is proud about the source material they are adapting. I don’t know if I would like this series as much as I did now if it was adapted when the manga was popular. There is so much about the current context but also the context when the series was created that increase the viewing experience. Jan behaviour is usually not great, but damn I evil laughed every time Jan did. KAKAKAKKAKAKAKAA
3. Delicious in Dungeon
Have you ever feel like something was created for you? Like that feeling of “omg, I’m so glad I am alive and experienced this!”. Welp, that’s how I feel about this series, it’s the type of stories I enjoy and can’t get enough of. I’m so happy and digged into my waiting list to bring this one to attention!
4. Tenmaku no Jaadugar
This series puts into evidence how seriously bad history is teach at schools, at least on my country. I didn’t know about any of this, but now I watching a beautifully drawn retelling of history with unique setting and great characters! I honestly can’t wait for a next season. This is a must watch and probably a big contender for anime of the year.
5. THE GHOST IN THE SHELL
Not to be confused with GHOST IN THE SHELL, this has a “THE” at the beginning. From the moment I saw the PV I new I was going to love this series. It might be confirmation bias, but this was one of my favorites of the season. I, like many others, have a weak spot for cyberpunk settings. And this one does not disappoint. We are back to the setting that the original movie show us, but with a more expressive Motoko, por explicit representation of her bisexuality and even more existential questions. This anime could not come in a better moment than today’s reality, where companies try to make everyone dependent on AI for profit.
The setting of this anime does bring questions that kindof make the current “Agentic AI” proclamations look like baby toys. After watching the last episode, I just stayed in my couch for a bit, thinking about what I just watched. It was a surreal experience and one that from time to time I comeback to think more about. I really encourage everyone to watch this show!
6. You and I Are Polar Opposites Season 2
I feel like this series did damages to my brain, in a good way. From the character design, to their clothing, to the interactions and their development, I had a blast! This series does a great job presenting us with character that we’ll see growing and learning. It has a large cast that I can only root for their success, even for gapacho! I don’t know what I will do now that there is not a 3rd season announced and after the ramparts of ice next’s season ends, seems I’m currently addicted to this author characters!
Really entertaining watch!
7. Marriagetoxin
Since I saw that in the the winter season we’ll be getting season 2, I decided to watch the first season… and OMG, why didn’t I do this during its initial release? Gero is such a green flag!
8. Perfect Addiction
I’m still got a couple of episode left, but this is a quick watch since it’s a light anime. There isn’t much to say other than just a fun watch.
9. Draw This, Then Die!
This year has been taxing for me when it comes to creativity and what it even mean to follow my passions. And that’s the reason why I feel grateful I saw this series. This series does an excellent job at presenting a fun story about a group of friends who wants to follow their hobbies while putting into perspective the experiences of the people who had tried, burned out but also succeed, all in a wholesome package.
10. ONE PIECE HEROINES
I don’t watch or read One Piece. My most close interaction with this universe was Pirate Warriors 4, which is a game I really enjoyed, and that’s it. But I absolutely loved this TV Special… It was fun and beautifully animated. It even tempted me to start watching One Piece, but it’s too long to start now. The good thing is that next year there will be a reboot/special, and this special is the reason why I’ll give an opportunity to that new one.
11. Sparks of Tomorrow
It took me a while to understand this setting was not historical. Not their fault though, this series does a good job on telling what it needs to tell at the beginning and then just showing the rest. Its animation feels experimental at time, but in a way that clearly shows intention. I don’t know, I really liked Yosuke as a character lol I might not condone his ways but damn he’s an entertaining character to watch.
12. Though I Am an Inept Villainess
It’s really common to see jokes about this series being just a The Apothecary Diaries clone, and some truth can be said about this probably being adapted due to the success of that other one, but that’s where the similitude end, Reirin and Keigetsu are two characters that quickly know how to steal your heart. Am I allow to say I don’t like the prince as a main lead? I don’t know where this is going since I really thought it was going to be just one season, but I’m ready to ride along.
13. Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You
I hate smoking, but damn this series does it best to romantize it… And it works! Despite the age gap, which to be honest at least we are talking about real adults, this series does a good job on making the romance not about an old man falling in love with someone younger, looking at you Sing “Yesterday” for Me, but about two folks who really enjoy spending type together smoking behind the supermarket… The title is the whole plot. Love it.
14. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 4
One day in march of this year I started watching this series and out of nowhere I found my self into a new comfort show. At times it reminded me to log horizon but with a more structured setting and clearer goals. Even when every single trope is being used, it feels like those tropes are the tool the story use to develop, not its weak points. This second part of the 4th season was a surprise, and I was genuinely interested on what was going one. The only bad thing was Crunchyroll terrible watchlist feature, where it doesn’t really know what to do with Crunchyroll’s weird choices on making OVA new seasons, so it always kept recommending me an old episode as it was my next episode. Not this series fault but I had to complain about it. Anyway, I can’t wait for the next season!
Completed… but at what cost 😭
15. Oni no Hanayome
First of all, I respect all animators, I know many of the results in animation are mostly driven by budget constrains more than just talent. That said, this was a powerpoint presentation. I gotta admit that the setting is not usually the type of romantic stories I love but I enjoyed watching this series. I would even go out my way into recommending it, if it wasn’t for its animation. Read the manga instead, strongly recommended by my wife.
16. Ryoumin 0-nin Start no Henkyou Ryoushu-sama
If I had a dollar for every anime I watch in this season about a lord who is a good person that takes care of its subordinates. I would have 2 dollars, which isn’t much but it’s rare it happened twice. I can see the appealing of these feel good, nothing is wrong is going to happen, everybody is going to be okay type of stories. This one doesn’t really offer much, and if I didn’t watch it on weekly releases I don’t think I would have giving it the opportunity. Do I regret watching it? Not really. Am I glad I watched it? Either. I just feel apathy about it.
17. BLACK TORCH
Feeling nostalgic is not always a good feeling, while watching at black torch I always had the feeling of: This would have been a great watch in 2010 (although its original source is from 2018), but now in 2026 it feels somehow outdated or something we have already seen, we can blame jujutsu kaisen about it… Which is funny since this series came out first. This series feels rushed at times, character development is not a thing and it has maybe way too much fan service for so little going on. I know many of the issues of this series can be attributed to its source material being cancelled or something like that, but I don’t think I’ll remember anything about this series in a couple of years, which is a bit sad.
18. An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride
This was a choice, I really don’t know how it happened, maybe it appeared in my recommendation (not idea why) or maybe it was just in most popular or whatever, but I decided to watch this offseason anime during the summer season, and I was reminded about how cringe some anime can be at times. This is the definition of rock bottom… I don’t think there is any redeeming aspect about this series, it feels like a cheap way for teenagers to self insert into a story that seems to favor the protagonist in openly sexist ways.
Dropped After a couple of episodes
19. Saved by the Ice Cold Prince’s Embrace
I have not developed the skill of watching light anime… I’m training, but I still don’t have that acquire taste, to me, these type of series are more like a tribute to the fans that already love the original source.
20. Let’s go KAIKIGUMI
Tbh, the few episodes I watched were entertaining, almost nostalgic due to the animation style. But at the same time I didn’t have many reasons to come back to this one.
21. Grow Up Show Himawari no Circus-dan
Don’t really have much to say, I enjoyed the first episode, but I didn’t think I could watch it entirely. There are a couple of scenes that felt really uncomfortable specially with a younger cast…
22. Sora wa Akai Kawa no Hotori
This one was kindof interesting, and I don’t doubt the protagonist will become a brave warrior, but it was not the type of anime I thought it would be, not for the first couple of episodes at least, so I abandoned it.
23. Please Excuse My Younger Brothers
I feel like sometimes I give series the benefit of the doubt even when I know they don’t deserve it… There was no need to make the main protagonist her step brother.
24. Chainsmoker Cat
I failed you… I’m so sorry chica que fuma :( But week by week I didn’t really had that urge of coming back, maybe too sad to watch or too disgusting to enjoy? I’m not sure. The animation is top tier though!
25. Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games
I feel like I misjudged this one, and there is a part of me that regrets it. But the first episode didn’t captured me and having street fighter segments felts like an ad… I now know it’s more that just this, but without context I thought this was just a series created to promote SF6. Don’t think I’ll watch it, maybe if it gets a second season in a couple of years.
26. Otome Kaijuu Caraméliser
I love kaijus! The concept of a kaiju girl was interesting… But the first episode had too much fan service for me to feel comfortable on watching this one. I’m too old for this.
27. A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires
I love revenge stories. The payoff of a great revenge, and the gratification of giving it back to cartoonishly evil villains. But this one didn’t make the cut, I even gave it the 3 episodes rule, and while I could see the potential, I felt like I could also see the path, a episode by episode problem solving with a bit of plot development… But offering nothing new? I decided to pass. I really hope the payoff was good for people who finished it!
28. Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky
I really wanted to like this one… But I suffer of this illness called “hating on the main protagonist” syndrome, and this main male protagonist really activated all my red flags alerts, I just didn’t think I would be able to survive him for a couple of episodes, so after the first one I decided to stop watch it. I’m sure I was probably wrong, but my first impression was not the best.
Dropped before watching
29. World Is Dancing
I didn’t feel like going to alternative sites but damn, the animation looks so good on this one!
30. Ushiro no Shoumen Kamui-san
I have no excuse for why this was even on my list in the first place. Fortunately there was so much friction for watching this one and little to none real curiosity on what it was that I never started it.
31. Tomb Raider King
While I’m not a huge fan of shounen, I did enjoy Solo leveling, so from time to time I do give opportunities to series that remind me to it… But I never started this one. I was surprised to see the amount of advertisement in animenyc about this anime, sometimes makes me wonder if I’m missing out.
I didn’t know it was an ongoing anime or a second season of a show I didn’t watch
32. Ascendance of a Bookworm: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke
I saw a couple of Instagram reels talking about this one, and I fell for it, I don’t really know much about the series, but after seeing the PV I didn’t really got it, so by the time the first episode dropped and I just didn’t watch it.
33. Yoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers 2nd Cour
In my defense, it says “2nd Cour”, and I’m still getting used to “Cour” as a term, if you repeat it multiple times, it doesn’t make any sense. Cour, Cour, Cour, Cour, Cour, Cour, Cour…
34. Hanazakari no Kimitachi e 2nd Season
I’m dumb and I don’t read, it literally had 2nd Season in the name
35. LIAR GAME
It sounded interesting, but not enough for me to get up to date.
Okay but that’s not 40
I know, initially I counted MAO and Daemons of the Shadow Realm, two of which I dropped after a couple of episodes, but that happened on spring season, but they are still going on this season. I can’t count Kaiju No.8 mini episodes since they are still going (feels more like a fall season anime) and I can’t count A Star Brighter Than the Sun, which I almost rewatch because I didn’t remembered I already watched it.
That makes… 39? Seems like originally when I made this post I skipped a number lol Should I start one from this season and immediately abandon it to make it 40? It’s doesn’t matter anyway.
Learnings?
During the season the hard part was not watching 40 anime shows, but preventing them from accumulating. Not all shows started during the same week and I made sure to watch them as soon as they came out. I knew from the start that not every show was going to survive, so quickly identifying what I was enjoying and what not helped clean out the queue.
Ironically, the most problematic week was the one for AnimeNYC, since I didn’t really have time to watch anime during those event days. Accumulating more than a week at a time felt like a possible experiment killer. This doesn’t mean I didn’t feel behind, there are a couple of shows that I allowed to queue up, for example The Ghost in the shell was one of them, this was mostly due to it being in Prime Video and laziness of using multiple streaming services.
Weekly releases are amazing, i know it has been said before, but Netflix might have made permanent damage to our expectations when it comes to releasing all episodes at once. Since anime episode releases are usually spread throughout the week, it provided an unexpected structure to my life, at times I only knew what day of the week it was due to an anime being released and appearing in my watch list. Not gonna lie, work and personal stuff was taking most of the space in my head, so that was appreciated.
I will definitely try this in the future, the amount will depend on how many anime i find interesting.
Somehow watching this many shows makes me more conscious of time passing, getting older every week, with stagnated dreams, and not having a clear path forward… It was like completing pending episodes helped me move forward through what I can only define as a foggy period.
Extras
Characters Tier Lists
“What i loved” Summer 2026 character tier list.
Satou, Aoi should not be there, but i don’t feel like making it again.
“Really entertaining watch!” section Summer 2026 character tier list.
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