The Fall 2026 Anime Preview Guide

The Ramparts of Ice Season 2

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The sports festival is over, and now it's time for everybody to go back to their normal high school days…or is it? Miki wonders whether she can go back to how things were with Yota after turning him down, and while Koyuki feels good about finally admitting she has feelings for Minato, that doesn't mean she knows what to do with them. Will everyone be able to move forward or are things now forever changed? Meanwhile, Momoka continues to scheme and try to get Minato to move on.

The Ramparts of Ice Season 2 is based on the manga series by Agasawa Tea. The anime series is streaming on Netflix on Thursdays.

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Kevin Cormack
Episode 1 Rating:

I think most adults can probably agree that being a teenager was hell. Not only were we crammed into socially fraught learning establishments with a bunch of other emotionally unstable idiots with dangerously undeveloped frontal lobes, but we were also forced to develop interpersonal relationships with them? Ewww. The Ramparts of Ice is one of those few anime that truly gets how confusing and painful adolescence is. Our protagonist, Koyun, after a prolonged period of deliberately hiding from the potential of emotional pain, is only now beginning to understand how much those dreaded feelings hurt.

Koyan isn't the only one who spends half the episode in tears. Female friend Miki is still reeling from rejecting Yota's romantic confession. She's tormented by guilt and the worry that she'll lose a friendship she treasures. The problem with confessing one's feelings is the risk that the other person will feel obliged to reciprocate. Does Miki owe Yota anything in that regard? Of course not, but saying “no” is sometimes harder than being agreeable and going along with the flow.

Koyan's troubled by her growing attraction to Minato, whom Yota perhaps rightfully castigates for being “too friendly” and leading girls on. He's fully aware of younger student Momoka's painfully obvious designs on him, but he's too “nice” to reject her, which, unbeknownst to him, is hurting Koyun. Momoka's a real piece of work, considering her bleak opening narration. She has identified Koyun as a rival for Minato's affections, and correctly intuits that Koyun is unlikely to ever proactively fight for the boy she likes. Momoka assumes that if she wears Minato's defenses down enough, he'll become hers, and Koyan will slink off into a dark hole somewhere. It's harsh, but she's probably not wrong in her assessment.

The restaurant eavesdropping scene where the girls overhear the boys talking would be excruciatingly stereotypical in almost any other anime, but here it's calculated to wound Koyan with as much psychic damage as possible. Minato can't be honest with himself, or Yota, claiming he loves Koyan as “only a friend”. Oh, poor girl, my heart aches for you.

The Ramparts of Ice is backfiring on all cylinders, wrenching hearts left, right, and center. Its evocation of adolescence's blinding fog of emotional torment is so squirmingly realistic it gives me flashbacks. It's leavened only by the frequent (and adorable) use of funny little chibi characters that recall the same creator's significantly more light-hearted You and I Are Polar Opposites. As much as I also loved that show, for me, The Ramparts of Ice and its searingly accurate portrayal of confused and inhibited teenagers appeals to my twisted inner masochist. It's one of my top shows of 2026. Here's to another full season of heart-pummeling anguish. I can't wait.

Episode 2 Rating:

I'm calling it now: Momoka is this season's Worst Girl. It's hard to put into words how much I can't stand her, and that's a mark of good writing. She's not stereotypically evil—it's not like she's murdered any puppies or kicked a baby—but her coldly calculating, smug destruction of Koyun's comfortable little bubble is nothing short of malicious.

For sixteen episodes now, Koyun and Minato have orbited one another, one never quite being able to be honest with the other about their feelings. Neither believe that the other reciprocates their attraction, and they're willing to sublimate their own instincts based on the hearsay of others. Koyun has always struggled to fit in with the crowd—to allow others into her heart—and just as she's allowing herself to become comfortable around Minato, the guy she's developing a massive crush on, Momoka comes and stamps all over her vulnerable heart.

From Momoka's point of view, at least in her pursuit of Minato, she's doing nothing wrong. Why shouldn't she confess her love to him? It's not like the quiet, shy girl she's clocked as a rival is likely to step up to the plate. Minato also has a reputation for going with the flow, for agreeing to date girls even if he doesn't really like them. As Yota comments, Minato should really either push Momoka away, or welcome her advances. Minato does neither, his wishy-washiness inviting a potentially very difficult situation.

To give him at least some credit, when Momoka confesses, he does at least try to let her down gently. We as the audience are lulled into a false sense of security by the way the episode is structured. “Oh good,” we think. “He grew a backbone and rejected her cleanly.” This is followed by a sweet scene of Koyun and Minato interacting naturally, comfortably even. Once Koyun is alone, however, Momoka strikes, with her expression barely masking the demon beneath her beautiful features.

Not only does Momoka convince Minato that Koyun doesn't like him back (ultra manipulative BS—she knows what she's doing), but even worse, she isn't beneath weaponizing her tears to get her own way. Perhaps they're even genuine, but the way she cajoles Minato into pitying her and capitulating to her desires is weapons-grade manipulation. Minato shows he isn't mature enough to accept some temporary emotional discomfort in the service of preventing future heartbreak. No matter how she tries to dig her claws into him, this relationship isn't likely to end well. Minato doesn't like her that way, and he's kidding himself if he thinks he's doing her a favor by continuing to string her along like this.

So we leave off with Koyun, devastated on the corridor floor, while Minato strolls off home with his trophy girlfriend hanging off his arm. Surely no-one can remain happy with this state of affairs?

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Cailtin Moore
Episode 1 Rating:

I was pretty much over The Ramparts of Ice by the end of its previous season. The more the story focused on its characters falling in love, the more I fell out of love with the show. What was once a series about the complexity of a group of teenagers getting over the inevitable psychological damage of middle school turned into a decent but typical high school romance. While there's nothing wrong with that – it's a genre I feel no antipathy toward – it just wasn't the show I wanted to be watching anymore.

Despite that, there was a refreshing quality to this episode. Now that everyone has largely managed to move on from their lingering trauma, they just… talk. Much of the runtime is devoted to various configurations of the main quartet sitting down and talking through their feelings about the current situation. Kocha Asagawa clearly values healthy communication. The real magic, though, is the balance between communication and rationality. Their desires and reactions aren't necessarily logical, because feelings aren't logical. They're not supposed to be! But when everyone lays out their context and reasoning, it still makes sense.

But that's just with characters we've been conditioned to sympathize with. We understand Miki's grief at realizing she cannot reciprocate Yota's feelings, and Koyuki's fear of being rejected. But can we shake off our dislike of Momoka, who is positioned as the current villain? She knows Koyuki likes Minato, and that he probably reciprocates, but she's going after him anyway. Here, she spells out her motivation: she won't just let Koyuki have what she wants if all Koyuki can do is sit around and wait for him to fall into her arms. It makes perfect sense, shown in parallel as she does core exercises while calling Minato to make plans, while Koyuki clutches a plushie alone in her darkened room, staring out at the rain. Minato, meanwhile, must contend with the fact that his dating history might make it hard for people to take his feelings for Koyuki seriously.

If you're one of those sickos who's always opining about how fictional characters should just sit down and talk out their issues, The Ramparts of Ice will give you an outlet for your twisted desires.

Episode 2 Rating:
Let me get personal for a bit: I have a lot of anxiety about being excluded. Sometimes intentionally, but more often, of just not being invited—of being the one people forget, the one who isn't quite close enough to any one core group to make it onto the invite list. While right now I have a very fulfilling social life and wonderful friends, it doesn't take much for the little voice in my head to start speaking up. Any new social situation, and I start wondering if everyone is hanging out without me, and why I always seem to end up on the periphery, even if people seem to like me.

What I mean to say is that I saw a lot of myself in Koyuki in this episode. Momoka keeps talking to her, and it sets off alarm bells in her head, telling her that she's being used. She's come so far: she has an active social life and is participating in school activities, and overall is much more secure. But the moment a schoolmate she doesn't know well takes an interest in her, she flashes back to her mutually-beneficial “friendship” with Atagawa, and the old insecurities start flooding back. I wish the episode had some faith in the viewers to put the pieces together, instead of adding shots of Koyuki and Atagawa from the previous season. It's not a hard connection to make, and the episode that depicted the breakdown of their relationship wasn't that long ago.

The thing that really twists the knife is that Koyuki isn't entirely wrong. Momoka is very clear about her intentions: she likes Minato and wants to date him. She's tired of being seen as backhanded and two-faced, so she's being more direct, but that doesn't change the fact that she's a user and a bit on the manipulative side. When she starts crying when Minato rejects her and manages to convince him to give it a try, how sincere is she? I honestly don't know.

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Bolts
Episode 1 Rating:

I appreciate that The Ramparts of Ice wastes no time diving into the existential anxiety I've come to love about this show. After the two massive bombshells at the end of season one regarding Koyuki having feelings for Minato and Yota's confession, I like that the show wastes no time really leaning into the ripple effects of those two revelations. While the romantic chemistry could be stronger, I always love how the show uses everyone's feelings for each other as a jumping-off point to explore broader anxieties, fears, and insecurities I think most people can relate to. Miki feeling overwhelmingly guilty about rejecting Yota was a phenomenal but heartbreaking conversation that makes me genuinely empathetic toward her. It's not that she doesn't care about him at all, but this show highlights how confessions carry enormous emotional weight and can completely upend an established friendship. Most shows focus on the person who does the confessing and barely spend time on the person who has to do the rejecting, but this episode is all about rejection, in both major and minor relationships.

Yota tells Miki he's OK, but even this episode shows how he's bottling up his fears and anxieties, so it's only a matter of time before he reaches his limit. But Miki has no capacity to bottle any of this up, feeling overwhelming guilt about not returning those feelings and even debating whether it was the wrong choice not to give him a chance. Still, this is clearly the most intense she's felt in a relationship, which shows just how important Yota is to her. Whether these are early signs of her developing feelings for him is still unclear, but at the very least, the double-edged sword of their bond makes the rejection feel even deeper for both of them.

This contrasts with Minato, who has spent most of his life being dumped, but only because he's never had a relationship that deep with anyone. Minato has always been more of a “go with the flow” and “let's not hurt anybody" kind of person, but that doesn't mean he's come out of every interaction completely unscathed. Not only has that made everybody view him rather cynically, which he is now being rightfully judged for, but I think the show is highlighting how all of those rejections from others have left him emotionally beaten down. It's like death by a thousand cuts; he's a lot more raw and sensitive than he even realizes. Even if what everybody is saying about him is technically true, it's clear a feeling is brewing in him that he might think he's undeserving of any kind of love. While obviously that is a good excuse to maintain some semblance of the status quo with Minato and Koyuki not confessing to each other despite being romantically interested, I like that there is still a believable character reason for why that status quo is maintained

Besides, this episode covers so much legroom, and it still had the courtesy to clear up major misunderstandings. Probably my favorite scene is when Koyuki and Miki air everything out at the restaurant, since they spent the better part of an entire season assuming the other was at least vaguely interested in someone else. I like how this still fits the episode's main theme, because both of them still felt guilty about potentially misreading certain scenes retroactively, but it is definitely played up as a lighter, comedic moment rather than a tragic one. The question is, though: what major shake-up is going to happen to get a lot of these characters out of the emotional hole they have dug themselves into? That is probably the overarching theme of this season based on this first episode, and I'm really looking forward to it!

Episode 2 Rating:

I can't believe I fell for it. This episode genuinely had me believing that Minato was going to finally do something different and that was going to be the catalyst for him and Koyuki finally getting together. That sneaky fade out that the show did was diabolical and I may never emotionally recover from it. Make no mistake, even though I am mad, I do give the show a little bit of grace with going in this direction. Even if the cynical part of my brain feels like this drama is at least a little bit artificial, everyone's actions are still in line with what was established before and in fact, this episode actually reveals a bit more about where certain characters are coming from, particularly Momoka.

This episode really lays on the parallels between Momoka and Koyuki, who both don't consider themselves good people but for opposite reasons. In the past, Koyuki actively used somebody else in order to get back at a bully that was hurting her. It was retaliation, but it caused her ex-boyfriend to basically be used as a tool. So now she goes through life very passively, afraid to get close to anyone at all. Momoka, on the other hand, seemed to make enemies very passively, attracting the attention of other people's boyfriends or targets of their affection. Now she is actively pursuing Minato who she knows is interested in somebody else, but she doesn't care who she might hurt in the process of getting what she wants. It's a very interesting inversion of their character arcs and Minato is right at the center of it.

I like the fact that Minato genuinely does try to turn Momoka down. Everything he said to initially reject her was absolutely perfect and I think it does show genuine growth. While there is still that lingering sense of him being too afraid to upset people or let them down, he is at least recognizing the fact that this pattern is only going to lead to more hurt down the road because it's happened so many times before. He is trying to break the cycle, but the irony is that Momoka won't let him by doing something that even he didn't really expect, she makes it seem like none of his past mistakes matter. This feels like the first time that Minato genuinely opened up to a girl about how awful he can be or how his passivity has led others to heartbreak and I do think it's very…interesting that Momoka responded that it isn't really any of her business. She is basically flipping the script on him by using his honesty and vulnerability as a way of positioning herself as someone that is going to be different.

I like the fact that Momoka admits to herself that she is being really underhanded and desperate, but I also wonder what exactly her goal is here. What kind of relationship does she actually want with Minato? Does she genuinely think that she is going to be different from all of the other girls because she was able to passively gain everyone else's affection so now she's unstoppable if she actively approaches somebody? Or is she just as desperate and in denial as half of the cast is. It's very messy and melodramatic, but I would be lying if I said it doesn't have me hooked. Momoka, Minato, and Koyuki are all caught in an interesting depressive spiral so the question is, what major event is it going to take for them to finally break out of it?