The AniFem Guide to Shojosei Series Coming Out in Winter 2026

Although still vastly overshadowed by shonen and seinen anime, the 2025 fall season saw a huge boom in shojosei series. While before fans were lucky to get one or two per season, there are eight currently airing! We at AniFem are excited to see that trend continue into winter of 2026 as well, with a diverse selection of shows that we hope will satisfy the tastes of a large cross-section of our readers.

We’ve put together this guide ahead of the upcoming season to help our readers stay abreast of what’s coming out. While most of the series are new to the staff, I’ve cobbled together some notes about what catches our eye about each one based on trailers, summaries, reviews of the source material, and discussion between existing fans. In short, it’s all preliminary judgments and educated guesses, designed to help audiences find the right show for them.

Tamon’s B-Side

Source: Manga by Shiwasu Yuki, Hana to Yume magazine, 2021-present

Airdate: January 1

What’s it about? High schooler Utage Kinoshita works part-time as a housekeeper so she can afford her fangirl obsession with Tamon Fukuhara, her favorite member of boy band F/ACE. When work serendipitously sends her to the home of her idol, she discovers that the real Tamon couldn’t be more different from his wild and sexy onstage persona! (From the Viz website)

Why we’re excited for it: This one looks super fun. The trailer promises a high-energy comic romp with bright, colorful animation. The whiplash between Tamon’s stage persona and his gloomy personality extends far beyond the basics of character writing: it’s also in the environments, contrasting the glitzy bright lights of the stage with his dark, messy apartment and in how seiyuu Hatano Kakeru modulates his voice. Utage is played by Hayami Saori performing very much against type, with an energy and forcefulness I’ve never heard from her. Add to that a primarily female creative team, and this seems like a recipe for a good time that we want to throw our support behind.

What gives us pause: I don’t like idol music, but that’s strictly a me problem. I’m not going to tell other people not to watch because of something that’s 100% personal preference. And besides, music I don’t care for has never stopped me from enjoying a sufficiently ridiculous anime. My bigger issue is how it seems to follow the default formula for shoujo romantic comedies, in which a teenage girl gets a job assisting a high-status male employer, only to discover he’s actually an emotionally-stunted manchild. Now it’s up to her to fix him. The series could innovate with the cliche and still end up plenty charming, but it’s something to be wary of.

Hana-Kimi

Source: Manga by Nakajo Hisayo, Hana to Yume magazine, 1996-2004

Airdate: January 4

What’s it about? Japanese-American track-and-field star Mizuki has transferred to a high school in Japan…but not just any school! To be close to her idol, high jumper Izumi Sano, she’s going to an all-guys’ high school…and disguising herself as a boy! But as fate would have it, they’re more than classmates…they’re roommates! Now, Mizuki must keep her secret in the classroom, the locker room, and her own bedroom. And her classmates—and the school nurse—must cope with a new transfer student who may make them question their own orientation… (From the Viz website)

Why we’re excited for it: Yay, more glossy anime adaptations of classic shojo, this time for a series that has never been animated before! This is the only series on the list that AniFem staff has read in full, and it’s definitely a problematic fave for us. Mizuki is a fun, determined heroine, and her romance with Izumi is sweet. The director, Takemura Natsuki, is mostly untried, with only a children’s anime under her belt, but we still want to throw our support behind female directors working on shojo around here. The direction in the trailer looks solid at least.

What gives us pause: You see that “problematic” in the above paragraph? Yeah. It has just about as much gender essentialism baked in as you’d expect from a 90’s manga with this premise. What makes us cringe more: the gay school nurse who can instantly tell Mizuki is a girl because he’s not attracted to her, her woman-hating classmate who has a 100% dead-end crush on his straight senpai, or the best friend having a gay panic episode over his confusing feelings for the shrimpy new kid? None of them are great! Like it or not, Hana-Kimi is in many ways a relic of a past era.

Journal with witch 

Source: Manga by Yamashita Tomoko, Feel Young magazine, 2017-2023

Airdate: January 4

What’s it about? When 35-year-old young-adult novelist KODAI Makio loses her sister in a car accident, she takes in her niece, TAKUMI Asa. Having lost her parents and been tossed into an unknown world, Asa begins a search for the version of herself she wants to become, eventually trying her hand at music. Sharp dialogue and illustrations weave a story of contemporary life that acknowledges diversity in its exploration of the collective. (From JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL)

Why we’re excited for it: The first time I heard of Journal with witch, it was the announcement that Sawashiro Miyuki would be the series lead. That alone was enough to catch my interest, but every piece of new information excited me more. She’s playing a 35-year-old writer in a mature human drama? The adopted niece is attracted to girls? It’s based on a josei manga by the artist of The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window? It’s being produced at Shuka, the studio behind the excellent The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons? With a female director?? And the writer of the Run with the Wind anime?? Who could ask for anything more!

What gives us pause: Yeah, I’ve got nothing. Unreserved excitement for this one.

Isekai Office Worker: The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter

Source: Light novel by Wakatsu Yatsuki, Shousetsuka ni Narou

Airdate: January 6

What’s it about? Seiichirou Kondou, a salaryman approaching his 30s, gets caught up in a holy maiden summoning ritual and is transported to a parallel world called Romany Kingdom. Having worked day and night, he developed the mindset of a corporate slave and even demanded work in this new world, which landed him an accounting job at the Royal Accounting Department. During his hectic days rebuilding the accounting department, Seiichirou came across a nutritional tonic that wiped away any fatigue. Thanks to the tonic, Seiichirou’s chronic ailments and exhaustion completely disappeared, leaving him overjoyed. But because he had no resistance to the world’s magic, the side effects put his life in danger! The only way to survive was to have someone with magic help accustom his body to magical energy, so with no other choice Seiichirou entrusts himself to Aresh, captain of the Third Royal Order, known as the Ice Prince. (From Crunchyroll)

Why we’re excited for it: This one comes heavily recommended by some friends of the site, including Chatty AF podcast guest Megan D of Manga Test Drive, as well as our own Lizzie. We’ve heard rumors whispered of a well thought-out world with a compelling romance and characters that act like humans. These things are so rare and precious in Narou isekai, but they do happen every once in a while. All that on top of a BL isekai with adult characters? These are all things we like.

What gives us pause: Megan, if you’re reading this: I love you and trust you, but it always raises some concerns when a work starts out on Narou. Some great series have come from there, but the hit rate isn’t exactly high. We also had a lot of angst over whether or not to even include this series on the list, because I guess BL fans and shojo fans have beef? But I have been assured by sources I trust that the magazine the manga version runs in, B’s Log Comic, is aimed at the josei demographic, so the series belongs in this article. Let’s bury the hatchet, y’all, and agree that seeing more anime for marginalized genders is an indisputable good thing.

Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You—Season 2

Source: Manga by Mitsui Haruka, Nakayoshi magazine, 2020-present

Airdate: January 9

What’s it about? Love in the time of COVID-19? This new series pits the crushes, nostalgia, and friendship of shojo manga against a crushing pandemic. Can it be that a determined high school girl is more resilient than anyone expected? (From the Kodansha website)

Why we’re excited for it: Yay! A shoujo anime getting a second season!

What gives us pause: …but it’s one that staff kind of fell off on. It’s fascinating how the story is both super informed by COVID emotionally but kind of avoids it on a practical and visual level, but once you get past that it’s basically a good-not-stelllar melodrama, hampered by production weaknesses. And we’re like, really busy, man. Maybe celebrating the existence of Season 2 is cause to go back and try Season 1 out again, and to see where this story could go?

Champignon Witch

Source: Manga by Higuchi Tachibana, Hana to Yume Comics Special imprint of Manga Park, 2019-present

Airdate: January 9

What’s it about? The story follows the dark forest-dwelling Luna, who people fear is a black witch because poisonous mushrooms grow wherever she goes. As such, the townspeople call her the “Mushroom Witch.” However, despite never feeling any warmth from them, Luna begins to feel affection for them…? It’s a magical fantasy of love, adventure and emotions! (From Crunchyroll News)

Why we’re excited for it: Mushrooms are everywhere these days! Whether they’re popping up from the ground after a rainy day, decomposing fallen logs, adorning any kind of clothing, accessory, or decor you can think of, or stuffed and baked into a delicious appetizer, there’s no denying that mushrooms are the “put a bird on it” of the 2020s. They’re even invading anime! Champignon Witch shares a manga artist with the adorable Gakuen Alice, and the trailers promise another series that’s just as cute. The series composer, Kakihara Yuuko, has a strong resume, including staff favorites like Cells at Work, Chihayafuru, and Asobi Asobase. Something tells me a lot of you will see yourselves in a witch who loves reading and animals, but is isolated from others and seeks connection. The selection this season definitely leans more toward grounded stories, so it’s nice to have a fantasy series.

What gives us pause: After Dahlia in Bloom, Typhoon Graphics and Kubo Yosuke should never be allowed to direct another shojo anime ever again, and yet here we are. The animation in the trailers is… well, it’s better than Dahlia in Bloom, with its distracting slanted shadows, but it’s still dull and stiff. Animation quality may not be the end-all, be-all of whether or not a series is worth watching, but Kubo’s borderline incompetent past work may genuinely ruin this one.

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk

Source: Manga by Yamamori Mika, Dessert magazine, 2020-present

Airdate: January 11

What’s it about? Yoi Takiguchi’s long legs, deep voice, and handsome face are the perfect recipe for an attractive guy—until people realize she is, in fact, a girl. Dubbed a “prince” by her peers since childhood, Yoi has all but given up on being seen as anything else. That is, until she bumps into Ichimura-sempai, the school’s other prince (who’s a he) and gets a taste of what it feels like to be seen for her true self. The story of the two high school princes starts here! (From the Kodansha website)

Why we’re excited for it: In the Clear Moonlit Dusk shares an author with Daytime Shooting Star and Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet, so we know it’s got the fundamentals of shojo down pat. Yamamoto Mika excels at writing interesting heroines who have plenty of personality while keeping them likable and relatable, casting them opposite male leads who are interesting and layered, neither abusive jags nor golden retrievers in human skin. It’s also super popular amongst ardent shojo fans, so I’m very much looking forward to seeing what the fuss is about.

What gives us pause: Unfortunately, it’s being animated by East Fish Studio, which previously adapted A Condition Called Love to a lukewarm reception, even among fans of the manga. In the Clear Moonlit Dusk’s trailer doesn’t do much to assuage any fears that this adaptation will suffer from many of the same problems. Even if you’re not the kind of fan who cares about animation quality, I have trepidations about a story where the central premise is that the main character is just too masculine and wants to be girlier. Vrai read a bit of the manga and left feeling that while the premise is elevated by the very human-feeling characters, it’s still ultimately a story of a “princely” girl who yearns to be treated as “feminine” (which has a definite “princess” lean to it in specific). It’s one of those things where individually, it’s fine, but it doesn’t exist in a vacuum; the pressure for girls to be feminine is real, and others might leave feeling like this was a missed opportunity in terms of exploring gender identity.

The Villainess is Adored by the Prince of the Neighboring Kingdom

Source: Web novel by Puni-chan, Shousetsuka ni Narou, 2016-present

Airdate: January 11

What’s it about? The protagonist is reincarnated as Tiararose, the villainess of the protagonist’s favorite otome romance game aimed at female gamers. The protagonist is resigned to accepting the in-game judgment event and the fate that awaits her. However, just as her fiancé breaks off their engagement, the game throws up a marriage proposal event that wasn’t in the game’s original scenario — from Aquasteed, the crown prince of the neighboring country. (From Anime News Network)

Why we’re excited for it: Why should boys get all the lavishly-animated brainless wish fulfillment light novel adaptations? The Villainess is Adored by the Prince of the Neighboring Kingdom tries about as hard as your typical MMO-style isekai series, and for some people, I’m sure that’s a good thing. If you want to listen to men with pretty voices and see pretty people doing tropey fantasy court intrigue shenanigans, this is sure to fulfill that need. Also, Hikaru Midorikawa is there.

What gives us pause: Have you ever watched a villainess anime and thought, “This is good, but I wish they’d stop trying to do anything unique and just keep to the most basic elements of the premise”? No? Yeah, neither have I. And yet, here we are. A young woman wakes up in the body of Tiararose, the villainess of her favorite otome game. Her fiance Hartknight (snerk) publicly dumps her in favor of the game’s protagonist, but right before she is consigned to some terrible fate, Prince Aquasteed (HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA OH MY GOD THAT NAME) sweeps in and rescues her. It is about as creative as your average Shousetsuka ni Narou series. Take that as you will.