Let’s have a look at what ANN readers consider the best (and worst) of the season,
based on the polls you can find in our Daily Streaming Reviews
and on the Your Score page with the latest simulcasts.

Keep in mind that these rankings are based on how people rated individual episodes of the current season, not on the overall quality or popularity of the series.
Only the titles legally streaming in North America and popular enough are being ranked, so the bottom of the list might represent ‘watchable’ rather than ‘bad’.
Series that lack enough user votes will not qualify for the ranking.
See the notes for further details.

Don’t forget to head over to Your Score to rate the episodes you’ve watched this week

Episode Rankings for the week of May 27-June 2

Along the actual ranking for this week’s episodes, this graph chronicles the change in position from week to week.
While some series are stable, others swing wildly in the rankings depending on the strength of each episode.
When a series has no episode for a given week, the previous week’s episode is used instead as a placeholder.
The first episode of each series is considered as part of the first week, even if it really streamed during the second week.
Click on the numbers to highlight a particular series.

Series Cumulative Ranking as of June 2

Each week’s ranking takes into account the scores given to previous weeks’ episodes.
As we reach closer to the end of the season, each series’ rank will start to solidify and we’ll get a look at the real winners and losers.
Click on the numbers to highlight a particular series.

Notes

Disclaimer: the rankings are just an average of opinions, published for entertainment and information purposes.
ANN makes no claims regarding statistical significance or invulnerability to spam.

The rankings are computed using the Ranked pairs method,
with the variation that unrated titles are considered as abstentions instead of lower than the rated titles.
This roughly means that if, out of all people who rated both A and B, 60% preferred A, it will be ranked higher than B.

The rankings indicate relative quality (A is preferred to B), not absolute quality (B is good/bad).
While the titles are ranked from ‘best’ to ‘worst’, sometimes the difference between #1 and #10 can be very thin.
So if your favorite is near the bottom of the list, don’t take it personally.
It doesn’t mean it’s a bad show, it just means that ANN readers, on average, have preferred the ones above.

If a series has no episode for a given week, we use the rating data for the previous week’s episode in order to compute the weekly ranking.
This is not officially counted as a position in the ranking (it has no impact on the cumulative ranking), but it makes it easier to compare weeks if they each have the same number of series ranked.

It should be noted that long-running series (and sequels) have an advantage in the sense that only people who like the series are still watching it, and they are likely to give each episode a high rating.
But if such a series is going through a low-quality filler arc, the season will get low rankings that are not indicative of the true overall quality of the series.
Conversely, there are fewer people rating the show so it’s less likely to have enough votes to qualify for the ranking.

Two jaded-looking adults chatting as they smoke caught my attention when I saw the announcement of this anime adaptation. As a working professional, I’m more inclined to watch a slice-of-life anime that features characters around my age group over an action title, especially one that features conversations I’ve had with other people word-for-word. Who can’t relate to a lonely, tired office worker these days?

As a slice-of-life and romantic comedy series, there’s a healthy buildup of the characters’ friendship as the foundation for their relationship. The humor goes hand in hand with the comedy, as Yamada/Tamaya’s ability to fluster the gullible Sasaki does. Much of the romance is understated and in fleeting moments, which is a refreshing expansion into the leads’ growing chemistry. Their interactions came off as more natural and comfortable for me to watch as a viewer, in contrast to After the Rain, which was between a forty-five-year-old man and a high school student. Unlike that series, which has an inherent power imbalance, the two leads in Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You are given more equal footing as the narrative gives them autonomy and insight into their lives and inner thoughts.

Sasaki maintains a level of respect and distance when interacting with either Yamada (Tamaya’s customer service persona) or her real self (which he’s oblivious to), but she’ll push his buttons by playing with his serious sense of responsibility. Tamaya—a pseudonym that Yamada uses when she interacts and plays around with Sasaki—comes off initially as a manic pixie dream girl, a person who was conveniently there for Sasaki when he was hitting a low point. But I knew she would break out of that impression, since she’s a multifaceted character with her own problems.

After all, she creates an identity to mess with Sasaki—who is too oblivious to figure out they’re the same person. But this comes back to immediately annoy her when this bit works too well, and he treats Tamaya and Yamada as two actual, different people. This illusion creates much of the story’s tension and drama. It’s akin to situations where a simple lie could’ve been cleared up at the start, but becomes increasingly awkward to come clean about over time. I started to question if Sasaki would eventually figure out that they’re the same person, but perhaps he’s just waiting for her to tell him on her own.

The Japanese voice acting is so impressive that I didn’t realize who played the two protagonists, even though I know their other work. I held off on looking at the credits until after I finished the first half, and I was shocked by how the actors changed their usual tone and cadence for these characters. As a fan of both Takuya Satō and Seena Hoshiki, I see them in a completely new light. Satō is known for roles as Ryunosuke Tsunashi in IDOLiSH7 and Harald in Vinland Saga, but sounds almost unrecognizable as an average salaryman. Hoshiki, who voices the cheeky and childish Riamu Yumemi in The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls, flexes her vocal range playing the cool, smoking Tamaya and the ideal employee with Yamada. I would love to hear more women play characters with a deeper range and vocal fry.

However, one aspect I must bring up is the unusual release of the first six episodes of this anime series. Its odd promotional mini-episode debut initially undercut my interest. ABEMA, a Japanese ad-supported streaming platform, announced the early streaming schedule for Smoking Behind the Supermarket at the end of May. Premiering twelve mini episodes for its premium members, where the season’s first six episodes are cut in half, nearly a month before its full-length Japanese TV broadcast in July, is highly unusual. June’s schedule for free users on ABEMA will stagger the release of three episodes a week and feature different opening and ending songs than the eventual TV broadcast. It’s a promotional pre-release strategy that divides the format into short ten-minute chunks to give viewers a digitally optimized preview. Obviously, this wasn’t done with the international audience in mind. U.S. anime fans can watch the twelve-episode batch on Crunchyroll.

That said, this lends well to the webcomic’s format, where each chapter has a self-contained story. The first six mini episodes (or three regular-length ones) ease the viewer into Sasaki’s lonely, overworked life and his fleeting interactions with the upbeat Yamada. Towards the middle of the season, the short format begins to grind on the story’s pacing, particularly when the opening and ending cut in during a forced transition. This leads to lopsided episode breakups, as episode nine contained only six minutes of new material beyond the opening and ending sequences. There are moments that undercut the emotional buildup of Sasaki and Tamaya’s individual character development due to the episode’s brevity. The story’s direction becomes incomplete because it’s missing the second half, which is an aspect that will be cleared up during the actual premiere. In other words, the mini-episode premiere serves its purpose of slowly feeding the viewer, but it starts to destroy the overall flow as the story develops.

Despite these problems, Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You is a must-see as an upcoming summer release. The relatability of the lead’s relationship makes it easy to watch after a stressful day of work.

The official website for the television anime adaptation of Arata Shiraishi and Kentarou‘s Rakudai Kenja no Gakuin Musou: Nidome no Tensei, S-Rank Cheat Majutsushi Boukenroku (The Failed Sage’s Academy Domination) light novel revealed additional staff, a key visual (pictured), the opening theme, and first promotional video on Saturday. The anime series is scheduled to premiere on July 2 at 12:00 a.m. on Tokyo MX, followed by ABC TV, BS Fuji, and other stations.

Staff

Art Director: Toshiyuki Tokuda (Seija Musou)

Color Design: Sakie Suzuki (Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru)

Director of Photography: Kouhei Asahi (Mikadono Sanshimai wa Angai, Choroi), Satoshi Namiki (Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu.)

Editing: Honami Yamagishi (Chichi wa Eiyuu, Haha wa Seirei, Musume no Watashi wa Tenseisha.)

Sound Director: Noboru Haraguchi (Kijin Gentoushou)

Sound Effects: Yasushi Inomata (Shabake)

Sound Production: Bit grooove promotion

Music: Takaaki Nakahashi (Akujiki Reijou to Kyouketsu Koushaku)

Music Production: jeux d’eau

J-Rock band FLOW (Kikansha no Mahou wa Tokubetsu desu) is performing the opening theme “＋ENCOUNT” Japanese girl group TrySail (Eromanga-sensei) is performing the ending theme “Doukei.” Both theme songs are previewed in the first promo below.

Hisashi Ishii (Yuusha, Yamemasu) is directing the anime at EMT Squared, with Deko Akao (Saigo ni Hitotsu dake Onegai shitemo Yoroshii deshou ka) handling the series composition. Hideki Furukawa (Strike the Blood III) is designing the characters.

Shiraishi began writing the adventure fantasy story on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website in 2018. Kadokawa published the light novel with illustrations by Denim Uo under the Sneaker Bunko imprint in eight volumes from October 2019 to March 2022.

The manga adaptation by Kentarou began its serialization on the Manga UP! website in September 2019. Square Enix released the eighth volume in June 2025.

Square Enix publishes the manga in English on the Manga UP! and Comikey websites.

PV 1

Source: Comic Natalie