For Anime Trending’s first compilation of Summer 2026 anime early impressions, I’ll be checking out the debut episodes of The World is Dancing, Chainsmoker Cat, Grow-Up Show, and Sparks of Tomorrow.

The World is Dancing

©Kazuto Mihara, KODANSHA/“The World Is Dancing” Production Committee.

Episodes watched: 1

Storyboards: Toshimasa Kuroyanagi
Episode direction: Naru Hosoma
Shirabyoshi dance choreography by: Mikiko Kawamura
Shirabyoshi dance storyboards and key animation: rui

1374. While Japan is being contested by the Northern and Southern Courts, young Oniyasha is having deep thoughts over why humans bother to dance. If you ask me, it’s an amusing and charming trait that, in conjunction with his googly-eyed funny faces, makes Oniyasha an endearing character. Unfortunately for the boy, he is the son of Kan’ami, a popular performer of the Sarugaku theater, and his disinterest in the performing arts does not do him many favors in his life.

Oniyasha is also fated to become Zeami, a major figure in Noh theater, and the inciting incident that sets him on that path — the Shirabyoshi dance mentioned in the credits — serves as the stunning climax of The World is Dancing’s first episode. The episode is never lacking in visual splendour — in addition to the appealing colors and the high baseline quality of its character art/animation and backgrounds, there are beautiful painting-like sequences, memorable depictions of Kan’ami’s disciplined performance and Oniyasha’s nimbleness, and absurdly breathtaking sunset atmosphere. But that dance, presented in a surrealistic, expressionistic manner that calls to mind the style and prowess of Shinya Ohira, is so breathtaking, and so in contrast to the performance seen earlier, there is nothing to do but to surrender yourself to the sight. A must-watch premiere.

Chainsmoker Cat

©にゃんにゃんファクトリー・講談社／ヤニねこ製作委員会

Episodes watched: 1

Storyboards: Taku Kimura  
Episode direction: Taku Kimura  

Chainsmoker Cat’s premiere uses fairly pretty visuals to portray decidedly unpretty content — a series of comedic vignettes depicting the miserable life of Yani, an impoverished catgirl who is incorrigibly disastrous and seems to live only to smoke. How unpretty is it? Well, the avan (pre-opening song section) ends with Yani’s landlord pleasuring himself after inadvertently seeing her in a state of undress, while our protagonist poops her brains out (you get to glimpse a pixelated torrent of diarrhea) after smoking a trash-sourced cigarette.

Some of the jokes worked on me to a decent degree, with the best of these featuring someone entering Yani’s filthy quarters in a hazmat suit. Others left me wanting with the execution and timing. There were times when I failed to see the appeal of a protagonist like Yani, but then I’d end up feeling amused by the scenes where she crushes her reliable younger sister’s hopes with extremely short-lived attempts to quit smoking. The end of the avan was the only time I felt completely perplexed by the humor, though I suppose Yani’s toilet episode deserves credit for being memorable and out there.

I think most people will either hate or love this episode, but I finished it with a mostly neutral feeling; the moments of entertainment I got cancelled out budding suspicions that the show is better at being plain depressing than at delivering dark humor. What pushes it very slightly into positive territory for me are the production values, especially the drawing quality for both the grounded and cartoonish renditions of Yani. (I have mixed feelings about the realistic and unflinching environmental detail, however, since they create a sobering feeling that a comedy like this probably doesn’t want to harness.) I’m not sure if I’d remain interested if the visual quality drops heavily later in the series, but I’ll stick around for now.

Grow Up Show

©キルクスコレクション協会／「グロウアップショウ」製作委員会

Episodes watched: 1

Storyboards: Kanta Kamei
Episode direction: Satsuki Takahashi

Mizuka Tsurumaki has hated circuses since she was young, thanks to her circus performer father forcing her into unwanted practice that include being a target for knife-throwing. Unfortunately for Mizuka, her dad’s trickery leads her into the arms of the Himawari Circus, a struggling traveling act whose members are composed of orphans, and into fateful contact with the talented acrobatic performer Ouka Kawasumi.

There are parts of Grow Up Show’s first episode that jolted some life into me, mainly Mizuka’s bluntness and some of its visual gags (particularly an eyeball-based one near the end). Generally, it just feels inoffensive, offering a decent experience but lacking a special spark in its visuals and writing. Since the premiere plants the seeds for some potentially compelling character arcs and relationships, Grow Up Show could grow into something worth remembering with time, but it doesn’t feel noteworthy right now.

Sparks of Tomorrow

(C)結城弘・京都アニメーション／明滋電氣商工会

Kyoto Animation’s latest original takes us to a what-if time of steam technology, and into a stunningly beautiful yet uncomfortably smog-choked Meiji-era Kyoto that makes you want to reach out and feel its textures. A book known as the 20th Century Electrical Catalog carries hope for an electric future, but vanishes when its owner leaves for war with it. A few years later, said owner’s younger brother Kihachi Sakamoto, who tinkers with machinery and electrical inventions, has an unexpected encounter with Inako Momokawa, the clumsy youngest daughter of a sake brewery owner who takes pride in her ability to believe. This in turn leads to an even more unexpected reunion with the Electrical Catalog, as well as a crossing of paths with Yosuke, a powerful individual with a possible connection to Kihachi’s past who has been searching for the book…

The first episode of Sparks of Tomorrow serves as a solid introduction. We’ve got an interesting MacGuffin, a likeable enough lead pair who aren’t quite on the same wavelength, and an impeccably dressed, foxy-faced antagonist who exudes delectable swagger when he’s not giving in to his manic, desperate desire to claim the 20th Century Electrical Catalog. On top of that, the visuals here are magnificent, and also contain variation. There’s a scene that sucks out almost all color in its depiction of a pitch-black enclosed space, with white linework giving its inhabitants a spectral form, while a surreal sequence has puppet caricatures representing the imagined audience. 

There are also instances where the visuals noticeably embrace being fun, like when Kihachi’s mouth morphs into a beak-like form while talking about a voice recorder, or when antagonist Yosuke’s arms become floppy appendages while reaching out for the object of his desire. These moments are delightful, and they complement everything else in the premiere to make Sparks of Tomorrow feel like the kind of entertaining adventure show I’d want to put on at night to forget about the world for a while. I hope this feeling persists throughout the series.