The Fall 2026 Anime Preview Guide

Dandivine

20 years after the robot Dandivine defeated the mysterious Aposdoll, the world is now at peace. However, toy manufacturer Kasuga, which relied on its Dandivine merchandise, has declined. Thus, Kasuga's president Genjuro Shijima prayed for Dandivine's revival, and the Aposdoll suddenly returned. High school student Gekiha Shijima gets an invitation from his uncle Yusaku Kuroiwa, the former main pilot of Dandivine, to pilot the giant robot himself.

Dandivine is an original project by Good Smile Company and LIDEN FILMS. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.

Boy, this is not a great season for original anime, huh? Typically associated with some of the very best works within this medium like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Akiba Maid War, and ZENSHU., so far the Fall 2026 season has expanded this list of growingly rare titles with the completely forgettable Vertex Force and now the confused Dandivine. After the first episode, I have no idea if it's trying to be a parody of super sentai media or an attempted revival of the media type—and it does not make me want to stick around longer to find out.

Aggressively bland Gekiha Shijima is technically the protagonist of this anime, but he doesn't really do anything in this episode as the evil organization that humanity used to fight with the real giant Dandivine robots starts reeking havoc again, shortly after the head of the toy manufacturer Kasuga laments the brand's, and the company's, decline. Instead it's his “peaked in high school” uncle, Yusaku Kuroiwa who technically participates the most in the story as he's called back into to defeat the giant monster the evil organization summons. Throw in a couple of scenes that establish Gekiha as a disappointing, apathetic boyfriend; and that's all that gets us to the end of this twenty-three minute episode.

I know that rewriting a piece of media isn't the best way to structure a review, and that Dandivine could build into this premise, but we can all agree that it would be WAY more interesting if a failing toy company revived a supervillain organization to avoid insolvency, right? Or, at the very least, if the evil organization coming back was the consequence of one party's actions, this episode wouldn't feel so directionless and like the main cast of characters are just waiting for the plot to happen to them. Speaking of the main cast, within this first episode just about every named character feels like some kind of jerk or a mean-spirited take on a some kind of character archetype. Even Gekiha's sister, who presumably doesn't want her brother to unknowingly break another girl's heart, can only nudge him about being absent rather than directly give him a heads up that he's being neglectful.

If Dandivine is trying to make some kind of grander point about these kinds of stories, or society, or whatever; it's really got to hurry up and make these messages clear. Right now, Dandivine just feels like a frustrating series of events rather than a coherent narrative, and I can't recommend anyone give this show their time.

The laws of nature are those rules that govern the workings of the universe which are simply immutable: “Every action must have an equal and opposite reaction. “Energy cannot be created or destroyed, as it simply changes form.” “The speed of light within a vacuum is always constant, regardless of the light source or the observer.” “Giant tokusatsu robots are fucking awesome.” For us humans, there is no use in trying to deny or push back these reality-defining principles. We must simply accept them and work to better understand them.

The premise of Dandavine is a little sweaty, as it supposes a world wherein the Megazord-esque Dandavine was both a mass-media juggernaut of toyetic synergy and an actual Earth-saving force for good that battled against the Aspodolls, a race of alien who apparently killed many thousands of real people in their bid for domination. This is some incongruous worldbuilding that falls apart under the least bit of scrutiny, since there's absolutely no way that the world would just get over a literal alien apocalypse in the span of just twenty years, but we have those fundamental laws of the universe to remember. Giant robots are awesome, especially when we're talking about a bunch of themed giant robots that can combine into an even bigger, humanoid giant robot that kicks alien ass. So, sure, whatever, I can run with Dandavine's goofy premise.

What I can't handwave so easily is how cheap and flat Dandavine looks most of the time. This is one of those shows were we have a lot of shots of the upper halves of characters bouncing up and down in front of the camera like they were cutouts glued to popsicle sticks. The character designs are also not very interesting, and when you combine all of that with the muddy colors and completely anonymous direction of all the scenes involving dialogue, you have a show that is honestly pretty boring to sit through.

Things improve a good deal once Dandi Ace comes out to fight some kaiju. The direction itself is still rote, but the CG models are more colorful and energetic than any of the human characters, and the climactic battle at least has the presence of mind to rip off really good anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion. I also dig the design of the lizard buddy that Dandi Ace has to battle. Anyone that knows me can tell you that I was the prime target audience for Dandavine, and I really wanted to adore it. Alas, this show feels like it's going to be a pretty mediocre time-filler at the end of the day. At least the robots are still awesome, though.

There's something almost too self-referential about a giant robot show that opens with a company president lamenting that their giant robot toys aren't selling well now that the Earth is no longer in danger. Yes, even as a little girl, I knew that the Transformers cartoon was basically an advertisement for the toys, but having it pointed out feels too cynical by half. And, maybe, a little too on the nose; you can't tell me you couldn't name a politician or company head anywhere in the world who wouldn't also lament the lack of wars driving down sales of little green army men or something. Please just let me enjoy my mecha show in peace without thinking about toy sales.

But that very cynical edge also highlights the nature of nostalgia – twenty years ago, the Dandivine mech and its pilot Yusaku saved Japan from the Aposdolls (plasticky kaiju). Since they were truly defeated, Japan has lived in peace, Yusaku has become a construction worker, and toy sales have fallen off. But three busty young ladies want to change that – they trick Yusaku's brother into helping them to bring back the Aposdolls, and suddenly Dandivine is back in action! And Yusaku's astoundingly average nephew Gekiha is along for the ride in a literal way: he's with his uncle and gets tugged along for the ride when Dandivine is once more called to fight. There's one company president who is going to be very happy about all of this.

This isn't a great introductory episode. It leans a bit too hard on the nostalgia angle and tries to show us that Gekiha is a big old nothing of a person as far as his peers are concerned. His girlfriend Akane and an unnamed friend have basically decided that only his face is worth anything, his perpetually broke uncle bums meals off him, and for the most part, that's okay with Gekiha. The only thing that seems to set him apart is his uncanny ability to…add money up while it's falling from his wallet? Surely that will be useful in the fight to come. Surely.

Even if this wasn't a two-episode guide, though, I'd be willing to give this a second chance. I like the retro look of Dandivine, and there's just got to be more to Gekiha than he's letting on. It's not brilliant, but it could build up to something fun. But if Uncle Yusaku peels the breading off any more tonkatsu and douses it in sauce, I may have to change my mind.