The Summer 2026 Anime Preview Guide

Draw This, Then Die!

Ai Yasumi, a first-year high schooler living on the remote island of Izu Ōshima, has one obsession: manga. When she discovers that her long-idolized but reclusive favorite manga creator, Yasuno-sensei, will make a rare appearance at Comitia, Ai doesn't hesitate—she has to meet her hero. But that single decision sets off a chain of encounters that will shatter her assumptions about art, genius, and what it truly means to create.

Draw This, Then Die! is based on the manga series by Minoru Toyoda. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Fridays.

Someone give Ai all the manga she wants right now. And while you're at it, give that horrible teacher a few articles on different reading modalities, neurodivergence, and how reading anything counts as “reading.” I'm having flashbacks to school and my campaign to convince a library board member that my public library needed a graphic novel section.

I suspect that I won't be the only person this episode hits where they live. No matter if you're neurodivergent or simply imaginative, Ai's situation is achingly familiar. She just doesn't see the world the way other people do, and while sometimes that results in wonderful imaginative play, other times it means that she has trouble reading social cues. She finds herself in a single volume of manga, the in-world Robota and Pokota, where a robot boy is taught social skills by a raccoon. Not only does she see herself in Robota, the book also gives Ai a way to cope: she imagines her own Pokota accompanying her, telling her what to do in a social situation. Even better, the episode doesn't paint Ai's continuing dependence on her imaginary friend into high school as weird or bad – it's just a part of her. Pokota is as much an aid as a guide dog, a cane, or a special pin that makes you feel invincible, and the episode never looks down on Ai for his presence.

Or at least, no one does yet. I have rarely had such a negative reaction to a character as I did to Teshima-sensei. She's the epitome of the terrible teacher, one who doesn't seem to care that her students may have differing needs in and out of the classroom and who looks down on manga as not real reading material. It's clear that she has a reason for that, probably tied to the fact that only a single volume of Ai's favorite manga was ever published before being canceled. The implication is that Teshima/Hoshino's love of manga was crushed by the cruel world of publishing. But that doesn't give her the right to take it out on her student, much less to punish her because of what she loves.

All of this plot is beautifully backed up by a use of color and character design that enhances the characters' actions, to say nothing of the cushiest ferry I've ever seen in my life. (You're telling me I spent countless hours on the hard wooden seats of boats in the state ferry service while there were people with cushions and armrests??) Even the fact that I instantly despised Teshima speaks to how well thought out this episode is. In all honesty, unless she gets dramatically better next week, I may not want to follow this. But don't let her scare you off - Draw This, Then Die! deserves at least this episode.

Boy, can I relate to Ai, the protagonist of Draw This, Then Die!. When I was a kid growing up in the boonies of the Pacific Northwest, I was left to my own devices a lot of the time, with nothing but books, movies, and my own made-up stories to keep me company. There were other kids at school and within my extended family to hang out with, but you can ask any of the adults who were in charge of babysitting me back in the day that I was one of those children you could just leave alone for hours at a time and actually expect to stay out of trouble, so long as I had some toys to play make-believe with and a few scraps of paper for writing down my little stories.

So, when Ai runs through the streets of her tiny seaside town and imagines scary monsters and cool ninjas instead of the clouds and alleycats she's stuck with, I get absolutely get it. Draw This, Then Die! is a bright and lovingly crafted coming-of-age story all about the joy and power that comes from discovering that creative spark that unites artists across all mediums. Her story is the kind of creative catnip that is basically guaranteed to be a hit with artists, writers, critics, and the like. It's the same reason movies about making movies in Hollywood tend to do so well with the Academy come awards season. It doesn't hurt that this particular bit of pandering is so well-animated and produced.

Ai has to run into some obstacles in her journey towards becoming a manga artist in her own right, and there are few more appropriate goblins to stick right in the middle of the road to success than The Douchebag Teacher Who Doesn't Believe in the Art. Of course, the big “twist” of the premiere is that Teshina-sensei, the jaded teacher with a stick up her tuchus, and Hoshina-sensei, the inspirational author of Ai's most favorite manga of all time, are one in the same. This is the emotional hook that I needed to be fully on board with Draw This, Then Die!. For as cute and relatably awkward Ai is, these kinds of inspirational artist stories usually need a strong mentor-mentee relationship to explore all the facets of the art being explored. Rocky needed his Mickey, Daniel-san needed Mr. Miyagi, and Ai needs Teshina. Naturally, he real draw of these relationships is that the world-weary symbol of the fading art learns and grows just as much on account of their fiery young upstart.

Draw This, Then Die! may have an offbeat, almost aggressive title, but rest assured that this is a feel-good anime through and through. I can't wait to see more of Ai and her teacher's story. If you're looking for a show to put a smile on your face this summer, then add Draw This, Then Die! to your weekly rotation as soon as you can.

Absolutely perfect, no notes. As a certified slice of life junkie, to say that this premiere checked off virtually every box that I could conceive would be an understatement. Not only was this first episode gorgeously animated and directed, particularly when it came to properly highlighting the perspective of Ai, but the way that it sets up the premise for the rest of the series while effectively telling its own complete story in the span of twenty minutes was absolutely amazing. This first episode hooked me right away in its opening minute by portraying things from Ai's perspective, how she has a hyperactive imagination that visualizes the different and unique ways that she sees the world. I actually found it very relatable the way that she equated certain things that she saw to more imaginative versions like the cat being a ninja or the clouds being alive. You take an active artistic imagination like that and you give it an actual creative outlet like reading or drawing manga, and you have a match made in heaven.

I originally wasn't sure what direction the show was going in, originally thinking that most of it will be focusing on Ai when she was a little girl, maybe learning to gain friends by using manga to help channel that hyperactivity. Then the flash forward did catch me off guard, and for the most part, it seemed like her early anxieties as a child were resolved since she does have friends, and a lot of her anxiety seemed to be quelled. However, the idea is that manga, or more specifically that hyper specific one shot manga that she found at the bookstore, is what helped her overcome those issues. She feels like she owes a lot to that manga for helping her get this far, so much so that she actually manifests that confidence in the form of the little mascot character from the book to help her decide how she's going to interact with people in her day-to-day life. Not only is that something that I have done growing up, but it is also something that I have actively seen kids do in order to process different situations.

I did admittedly call the teacher reveal a mile away. So I guess I will dock some points for predictability, but the kinetic energy and sense of humor that this first episode had still won me over. Given what the show is setting up the dynamic between Ai and her teacher, I can already tell that this series is gonna go for a strong balance between that hyperactive comedy, artistic relatability, and maybe a little bit of tragedy with regards to how difficult it might be to maintain that spark into adulthood. Those are all themes that I can heavily get behind. Considering the beautiful balancing act that this first episode did, I do have faith that the show will be able to follow suit in future ones. Hands-down a top five show I'm looking forward to watching more of for this season.