Seasonal anime
I try to check out at least a few new anime every season, and have been doing so for many years now. Up until now, I haven't exactly tracked everything I watched, although I kinda/sorta remember everything I've watched, can recall how much I enjoyed each series, etc. I am going to try to save some notes here after each season to better appreciate what I enjoyed from each season.
Winter 2026
Frieren Season 2: This was my Anime of the Season for Winter 2026, without a doubt. I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Frieren, so I was looking forward to the second season. Sometimes that can lead to disappointment, but not in this case! It was a brief one - 10 episodes - but each episode was excellent.
Hell's Paradise Season 2: I watched the first season when it aired, but mostly forgot about it as it was three years ago. I decided to keep watching with relatively low expections. It was a pleasant surprise, and I think the second season was quite a bit better than the first. Great work by Mappa. Now I am really hoping for a third season. If/when I get impatient, I'll go read the manga instead.
You and I are Polar Opposites: I thoroughly enjoyed this one! After the first couple episodes, I was hooked, and eventually binge read the whole manga in the span of a couple days on the Jump app. I am a sucker for this type of story: high school romance, charming characters, slife-of-life kind of pace, light-hearted humour. It really delivers.
Jujutsu Kaisen: The Culling Game Part 1: Having read the entire JJK manga, I knew I was going to watch the anime when it continued. But I really did not get much enjoyment out of the Culling Game arc in the manga. I found it a bit hard to follow and that it dragged on for too long. I was holding out some hope that this arc would come across better in the anime. After Part 1, I am cautiously optimistic that it truly will be better in the anime. Overall this season was quite good. Still a few very boring spots IMHO (explaining the Culling Game rules is painfully boring!) but there was also a ton of great action. I loved Maki's episode. Brilliant stuff. And the final episode (Okkotsu's episode) was really well done too. I am surprised to actually be looking forward to the next part of the anime.
Golden Kamuy Final Season: I was late to the Golden Kamuy party, having not watched any of the anime or read any of the manga before Winter 2026. I'm glad that I finally gave it a chance. It was a really wild ride watching from the beginning up to this season. A compelling story with some very likeable characters that runs the gamut of emotions from zany to hyper serious. Lots of good action episodes, if a bit gory/brutal at times. The humour can also be a bit crude at times, but I mostly got a kick out of the silly stuff. So much for this being the "final" season though! I had a hunch after the second last episode that it wasn't all going to fit in the final ~20 minutes.
Fate/strange Fake: I was a big fan of Fate/Zero and Fate/stay night when I watched them (several years ago now), so I was hopeful that Fate/strange Fake could re-capture some of that magic. Unfortunately, it didn't quite do that for me. It wasn't bad - there were certainly some good moments, and I liked some characters a lot - but for me it was not on the same level as Zero or stay night.