What I'm Reading and Watching to Kick off 2026

 It's a new year!

Will this year turn out like so many others, with many life updates, but little content?

Who's to say really.

Seeing as I haven't updated this blog since August, I'm afraid it may turn out that way again, but, then again, the holiday retail season has come to an end, and I've taken on less responsibilities at work - maybe I'll have more time to write. Plus: I got a fancy new computer during Black Friday sales; it's got a massive, fancy monitor as well. Perfect for processing many words. All the words.

So, what's been on my Otaku plate as of late....

CURRENTLY READING

About an hour ago I caught up with: "Yane no Shita no Artemis" by Nagi Uraya.

The premise is reminiscent of "We Never Learn" - a somewhat ordinary guy in college has to tutor one of his former classmates who's extremely one-sided genius has prevented her from graduating high school, and now's her final chance before her dream's of becoming a scientist go up in smoke. It's heart-warming, funny, and emotional. The art is sexy, but not fan-service heavy (no nudity). By the current chapter I really got to care for both the main girl, Kobachi, as well as the MC's college senpai. I've been trying to pin down for a while who the male MC reminded me of, but I'm drawing a blank. At times he gives off Onizuka vibes, but at like 1% the energy level. He's smart, and caring, and has a mind for literature, but considering he's there to tutor her in liberal arts, I think there's been only a few chapters where they do any "proper" studying.

I'd say this has really great potential and it's going to be the top of my English license recommendations list in 2026.

You can read it in Japanese here.

UPDATE: I recently found a copy of vol. 2 in the Wild at Kinokuniya in Little Tokyo. Going to try and get my hands on vol. 1 and 3 which I believe are also available now in the states.

I've also been trying to catch up on some of the series in my backlog from my personal collection.

Yesterday I polished off vol. 13 of "How Do We Relationship" by Tamifull.

I've held this series pretty dear to my heart for a long, long time and it will be ending with vol. 14 coming out in April. I really value how well it tackles extremely sensitive topics, and doesn't stray away from confronting relationship problems head-on. Considering most romance manga don't even really let us see the characters together for very long, and even fewer let us watch the characters break up (somehow I think this series had more break-ups than confessions), this one let us watch the characters get together, break up, then do it all over again while struggling with the conflicting emotions from the trauma that gets built up in the time apart. I have a feeling that seeing Miwa and Saeko's story come to an end next volume will probably leave a pretty big hole in my liver after I pour one out for another series I've been invested in coming to a close after a decade.

9 out of 10 manga enthusiasts would recommend, but some of the topics may be very sensitive for some.

I also recently finished reading another Yuri series: "Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord" by Yodokawa. 

I'll probably write a full review of the series soon. Overall, I enjoyed it, but it felt like another GL book which was rushed to a conclusion prematurely. 7/10 losing points for squandered potential.

CURRENTLY WATCHING

Winter Anime Season 2026 kicked off with a bang, and good lord, we're eating good.

Not going to go to in depth with everything I'm watching since I'm watching a ton of shows this season, but there's certainly a couple of standouts.

1.    Journal With Witch

This is a series I tweeted about pretty heavily last year. I ended up reading it from start to finish 5 or 6 times and I've been begging for an English release of it for months. (I'm right on the verge of importing the Japanese version myself). It's not often, in anime especially, that a series comes along and perfectly deals with topics like loss and grief, and this one does it especially well. The adaptation is superb with just out of this world voice acting from the main pair and a supporting cast of A-list talent to top things off. Bring a box of tissues.

Rounding out my top 5 are:

2.    You and I Are Polar Opposites: Adorable, fun, high energy. This series scratches the itch I have for more romance anime about the couple together doing couple stuff. Like Horimiya, but much less serious and without all the S&M and off-screen sex.

3.    Tamon's B-Side: God this series is funny and the adaptation is just pure perfection. Given how hugely successful this has been do I think it's possible the author's previous work, Takane and Hana, could also get an adaptation? Maybe, but that's kinda like asking if Fire Punch will get picked up now that CSM's gone mainstream...

4.    The Invisible Man and His Soon to Be Wife: Shit, now I need to buy this book. Looks like the English publication is up to vol. 6 now, with 7 on the way. Strong series giving off high levels of cute, adult romance, strongly reminded me of "The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl." Quasi-supernatural office romance is a truly underrated genre. 

5.    Tis Time for Torture Princess: Maybe after season 2 we'll get VIZ to have enough faith in the series to print it. The translation of the manga is already available, but given it's length, I suppose they're worried about committing to printing any comedies that run 20+ volumes.

Honorable Mention...   In the Clear Moonlit Dusk:  I'm not convinced. The animation and art direction don't really feel like they're doing Mika Yamamori's Shojo series justice. So far this is at best a 7/10 adaptation of a 9/10 series; please refer to Tamon to see what a 10/10 looks like... I was really hopeful that this would be breaking the internet, but doesn't feel like that's happening, which doesn't bode particularly well for Yamamori-sensei's other series getting picked up for anime after this.

The rest of the watch list includes:

Frieren Season 2: 10 episodes though. WTF

Oshi No Ko Season 3: I heard vague rumors of a new ending. I'll cling to hope.

JJK Season 3: Nope

Hell's Paradise Season 2: Eh... manga clears it.

Sentenced to Be a Hero: On my binge list.

Fire Force: I'm not caught up yet.

Fate/Strange Fake: Holy fucking sakuga gods.

Chained Soldier Season 2: It's ok to be horny sometimes.

Shibou Yuugi: I find it funny how they've self-censored all the blood and gore.

The Holy Grail of Eris: Possession is nine-tenths of the law

The Demon King's Daughter is Too Kind: Have to check my blood sugar after every episode

Cosmic Princess Kaguya: When I re-up my Netflix

Love through a Prism: See above

Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for reading, and stay in touch. Hopefully more posts and reviews to come soon.

I continue to post on that cesspool that is twitter, but you can also find me on Bluesky.

We've got a small discord community as well, though it's not super active. DM on Twitter for invite links.