Moving beyond our initial reactions, it’s already time for Spring 2026 mid-season anime impressions! Instead of focusing on top-charting series, Anime Trending writers have picked out one show that has earned its spot on their weekly watchlists. From the otaku-centric humor of Pardon the Intrusion, I’m Home! to the dark, legendary world of MAO and the uncomfortable tension of Liar Game, explore our staff’s top mid-season picks and hidden favorites below.
Pardon the Intrusion, I’m Home!
Reviewed episodes: 1-7
The 24-year-old Rinko Nakama is a closeted otaku whose after-work ritual involves watching her favorite shows. But whenever she watches anything other than the anime Usaneko Club, her next-door neighbor pounds angrily against the wall. While investigating the issue with her other neighbor, Satsuki, the troublesome neighbor kicks a hole in the wall — and reveals himself to be Usada, the author behind the Usaneko manga. After a tantrum that leads to Usada kicking down Rinko’s other wall, creating a hole that connects her and Satsuki’s apartments, the three find their lives — and their homes — unexpectedly intertwined.
Though the traditional roles of woman-cook-man-do-nothing had me rolling my eyes in the beginning, I started to really enjoy the show once it went beyond that and found its rhythm through the trio’s comedy. Rinko’s happy-go-lucky attitude toward everything, from the holes in her walls to Satsuki’s suggestion that they pretend to date so he can protect her from Usada if need be, makes all of the ridiculousness entertaining, if only a little concerning. Because Usada and Satsuki are both writers, the show also includes a lot of jokes that cater to those in otaku and writer spaces. Choose your fighter: the guy who uses his crush on you as the muse for the yuri arc he’s writing in his best-selling manga, or the guy who writes fanfiction about you and him to supplement the credibility of your fake dating front? Despite both being able to write gripping scenes inspired by Rinko, Satsuki, and Usada are also quite inept in real-life romantic situations, which to me is true loser writer representation.
Satsuki is clearly the leading man in this reverse harem, and that’s something I’ve yet to understand. It’s not that he lacks personality, but it often feels like he locks his true self away when he’s with Rinko, making his doting nature less nice and more unsettling. Some of it might be chalked up to the fact that their friendship is relatively new, but I still don’t like how little of himself he’s shown her while actively accelerating their fake relationship toward becoming a real one. Usada is far less gentlemanly than Satsuki, but I like that he’s a self-aware asshole, and he manages to articulate his care for Rinko while still being himself.
There’s still time for new dynamics to develop, especially with other tenants in their apartment complex showing interest in Rinko, so maybe Satsuki isn’t the decided winner yet. And if not a fully closed triangle, I do think there’s a world in which Satsuki and Usada both become Rinko’s boyfriends…
By: Audrey
MAO
Reviewed episodes: 1-7
Rumiko Takahashi’s latest work, MAO, follows Nanoka, an ordinary modern-day high schooler who isn’t ordinary at all. When she was little, she survived a fatal accident that took her parents’ lives, leaving her with no memories of that day. One day, she somehow travels to Taisho-era Japan through a shopping center, where she meets Mao, a traveling onmyoji hunting for certain byoki. Together, they solve mysterious events to break a curse that they both received from the same byoki.
At first, I didn’t think much about the series; I simply wanted to see what Takahashi’s latest work was about since I loved her previous works. My first thought was that it felt incredibly similar to Inuyasha, one of her previous projects. It was really hard not to make comparisons when the format is the same, and it didn’t help that her familiar character designs remain consistent throughout her works, which strengthens that comparison.
However, MAO is definitely a separate series with its own unique storyline, and by a certain episode, I could clearly see that difference. The first few episodes serve as an introduction, setting us up for the series’ actual storyline. In the beginning, Nanoka and Mao are just solving random mysterious events, hoping to find a lead. But in the later episodes, Nanoka and Mao begin solving interconnected mysteries leading up to their goal: locating the byoki who cursed them, finding out why they were targeted, and uncovering how Nanoka is cursed when she is from modern-day Japan. The most recent episodes are especially interesting since we actually see Nanoka as a child in the Taisho era, as Mao and high schooler Nanoka are facing the byoki they were searching for, deepening the mystery between the three.
Honestly, it feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of the plot, and it’s already mid-season. There is still so much that we don’t know, such as Mao’s past and why Nanoka and Mao are its targets. If MAO is like Takahashi’s previous works, then I think we’ll see multiple seasons of this series as the story plays out.
By: Lyn
Liar Game
Reviewed episodes: 1-7
Nao Kanzaki is an 18-year-old college student whose naively trusting nature makes her an easy target. She’s the perfect participant to manipulate and put into debt for the Liar Game Tournament. Knowing she has no chance of even surviving, Nao innocently enlists the help of ex-con artist Shinichi Akiyama to survive the competition that relies heavily on deceiving people.
As someone who has been waiting for an anime adaptation of Liar Game for many years, I’ll admit the show is painfully faithful to the source material — pacing included. The first few episodes don’t do much to draw anyone in, and compared to other series with life-or-death scenarios, Liar Game lacks the same visceral appeal. The absence of mortal consequences makes the slower moments harder to sit with. Regardless, the thrill behind each game keeps me going, as does Akiyama’s ability to see through everyone’s deception, including the game masters’. His strategies are always a mystery until the final reveal, and I appreciate the backstory we get for him in episode 7. We learn that Nao reminds him of his mother and that his prison stint stemmed from his revenge against the corrupt people who destroyed his family.
Nao, for better or for worse, is the most frustratingly honest person in every room she enters. Yet, the question of how she will survive the game is what keeps things compelling. Her participation in the Downsizing Game makes it clear that she’s willing to re-enter the competition alone just to “save” Akiyama — but we all know he’ll likely end up rescuing her anyway. That predictability, paired with Nao’s unabashed desire to see the good in everyone, is what makes Nao so interesting to watch.
Liar Game is certainly not a one-season show, and I’m not sure how far this adaptation intends to go. It has spent much of this season overshadowed by flashier or more exciting series, but for anyone interested in a psychological thriller that earns its tension through game theory rather than violence, it’s well worth the patience.
By: Isabelle
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