The Summer 2026 anime season offered so many interesting shows that keeping up was a challenge. On terrestrial TV, Koukaku Kidoutai THE GHOST IN THE SHELL drew attention as a version said to be the first to follow the original, Thunder 3 unfolded an extraordinary world, and streaming offered titles such as Star Wars: Visions / The Ninth Jedi. This feature narrows the field to three titles that were more than worth following: Grow Up Show ~Himawari no Circus-dan~, Otome Kaijuu Carameliser, and Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 4th season (below, Re:Zero).
Grow Up Show ~Himawari no Circus-dan~: A Happy Ending for Everyone
The title Grow Up Show led me to expect a familiar success story about a circus troupe. Once the series began, however, protagonist Tsurumaki Mizuka kept breaking that image, which felt very fresh. It is still a success story and an orthodox growth narrative for the troupe members, but Mizuka has no motivation at all. She has more circus knowledge and a sharper eye than anyone, yet she will not cooperate willingly, and that tension becomes a wonderful seasoning for the show.
Her character appeal, along with the energetic, almost biting tsukkomi from the rest of the cast, made the series a comfortable place. I simply wanted to keep watching this group forever.
Eventually they take on the circus festival Kilkus Collection. Many difficulties press down on the Himawari Circus troupe: Mizuka’s own problems, Sumeragi Nanami interfering as a rival, and troupe leader Sumeragi Maria’s serious illness. Yet contrary to the expectation that it might end with Nanami defeated, the finale makes no one unhappy. Everyone finds happiness, and for viewers who had started cheering for Nanami along the way, it is the best possible happy ending.
That is exactly the kind of emotion that makes your eyes sting: ‘I’m so glad everyone could be happy!’ Including that shocking conclusion, this was a work that made me feel ‘I love everyone!’ toward every character.
Otome Kaijuu Carameliser: Two People You Want to Root For, and the Pain of a Misunderstanding
The protagonist, Akaishi Kuroe, is a girl who has cut off all contact with others and lived in solitude because of an illness that turns her into a kaijuu. Precisely because of that, when Minami Arata’s lead brings her into a relationship, I cheered, ‘Do your best!’ I also felt the same for Arata, who stays devoted to Kuroe.
But their love, which seemed to grow smoothly, is torn apart by a small misunderstanding. Episode 10’s sudden breakup scene was suffocating. ‘Maybe we should break up…’ Negative feelings she had unknowingly stored up overflow inside Kuroe, even though she does not truly want to think that way. Everyone has experienced something like that. The anime depicts it as a deeply sad scene, and viewers nearly drown in emotions beyond words.
‘This was bound to happen someday…’ Kuroe’s dejection as she hangs her head is understandable. She had carried anxiety, deceived herself, and let negative feelings accumulate, and this was the result. Yet as the saying goes, after rain the ground hardens: Kuroe and Arata ultimately overcome the obstacle and strengthen their bond. I first became interested in the work thinking it was another kaijuu anime, but both Kuroe and Arata are so pure that I kept rooting for them to the end.
Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 4th Season: I Want Shaula to Be Saved!!
Re:Zero‘s 4th season was full of upheaval, a season where you could not look away for a moment. The second cour, Dakkan-hen, was so good that every episode could be called a god episode. Natsuki Subaru loses his memories; Emilia and Beatrice worry about him from the bottom of their hearts; Meili finally becomes a ‘true companion’; Julius and Anastasia as a pair also have drama. Everyone overcomes some kind of hardship in a cour filled with nothing but highlights and emotion.
If I had to single out one element, it would be the new character Shaula. At first she seemed like pure fanservice and a guide for the story. Episode 81, ‘Ichizuna Hoshi,’ completely changed how she was treated. When asked why she stubbornly refused to teach the tower’s final rule, she said between sobs:
‘Because if I told you this, Oshisama (Subaru), you’d realize how to clear the trial! So if I tell you this… if I do tell you… my time with Oshisama would end…!!’
Shaula cried so hard that her final words were difficult to make out. For her, who waited 400 years for Subaru alone, the effectively two days she spent with him must have been not merely happiness but a miraculous time. Shaula, usually defined by her bursting smile, wept openly for the first time, and the feelings she squeezed out made me want to save her as well. Along with the scene afterward in which Subaru jumps, this became one of the episodes symbolizing the 4th season.
Recently, anime that make 30 minutes feel too short with the thought ‘What happens next!?’ have stood out, and I often find myself checking posts on X while still excited. Re:Zero 4th season is a perfect example and made every week thrilling. Carameliser and Grow Up Show also had dramatic stories that repeatedly made me think, ‘I love this work!’ What will become the weekly highlight in the autumn cour? I have nothing but expectations.
(C) Kilkus Collection Association / ‘Grow Up Show’ Production Committee
(C) Aoki Spica / KADOKAWA / Otome Kaijuu Carameliser Production Committee
(C) Nagatsuki Tappei, KADOKAWA / Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 4 Production Committee
(Kigasawa Masashi)
