The Summer 2026 Anime Preview Guide

The World's Strongest Rearguard

After living life as a corporate lapdog, Arihito is reborn in a fantasy world. Strangely, the class he's assigned is the very ambiguously titled “Rearguard.” It seems weird, but Arihito soon figures out that, though it isn't flashy, he's gained the ability to do just about everything in battle, from assisting in attacking and defending to healing. As he begins his new life, he quickly gathers curious companions: his “senior” supervisor, who's younger than he is; a mysterious demi-human mercenary girl; and a gorgeous high-level swordswoman. With this bevy of interesting ladies in his party, his journey as the greatest supporter who has ever lived begins.

The World's Strongest Rearguard is based on the light novel series by author Tōwa and illustrator Huuka Kazabana. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Sundays.

There are certain studios that when you see the name, you have at least some idea of what you're going to get: Trigger. Kyoto Animation. GoHands. Love them or hate them, they have distinctive house styles and a work culture that allows them consistency. Similarly, I know when I see the name MAHO FILM, I am about to see something truly ass. The World's Strongest Rearguard did not disappoint.

The story is exactly what you'd expect from the title: Dude unexpectedly dies young. Dude gets reincarnated into video game-esque world. Dude ends up in an underappreciated job that is actually really strong. Dude buys a slave. Arihito is, of course, a total snooze of a protagonist, because that's what they always are. The one remarkable element to the writing is that the world design is genuinely kind of weird: the population seems to be made up entirely of reincarnated adults who choose video game classes and are made to explore labyrinths and gain points. Why? Because! I started building a theory that they're in some sort of Lost-style purgatory in order to either make up for their sins or to run out the years remaining in their lifespan—not that I expect the story to do anything with it, but you have to make your own fun sometimes when watching these shows.

But let's go back to that GoHands comparison for a moment; it feels apt, since they're making the other stats-based reincarnation isekai that has come out just this week. As hideous as their style is, at least it's intentional. Swooping cameras, muddy colors, and nonsensical filters are just what they do—and everyone watching knows exactly what to expect. The World's Strongest Rearguard is equally hideous, but not in the same intentional way. Okay, yes, the wildly tacky costume design on the female characters was a choice. I mean, someone sat down and drew the guild receptionist wearing a tube top with a detached collar and miniature tie that went down to the top of her breasts. However, I doubt the horrible foreshortening, bad anatomy, and perspective errors were a deliberate stylistic decision. For 90% of the episode, there are two kinds of animation cuts: lip flap and the most awkward, stiff walk cycles you've ever seen. There are several shots of characters talking where their mouths aren't moving at all.

The World's Strongest Rearguard walks the line between total bore and funny-bad. If you love to rubberneck at bad animation, you might actually want to give this one a look. Otherwise, do anything else.

I don't normally get too worked up over the OPs and their theme songs in these previews, because most of them come and go without making much impact at all in either direction. The opening theme of The World's Strongest Rearguard deserves special mention, however, because sweet, merciful Anime Jesus does it suck ass. The visuals are whatever, but the opening song is an insufferably autotuned slice of junk-rock called “license” by the band Redhair Rosy. I'm normally fine with vocal modulations like this, but something about the screeching whine of the band's vocalist and the corporate sheen of the song's baby's-first-rock-song composition is just anathema to my musical sensibilities. It's not a good way to kick of a season of a television show, is what I'm saying.

Granted, it's not like The World's Strongest Rearguard was going to ever light the world on fire, even if it kicked open the doors with the most kickass theme song this side of “Ride On Shooting Star.” You all know the score, by now. This is one of those isekai that gives me heartburn just by describing the regurgitated lore-slop of its premise, and no, I am not giving this show any leeway just because it's an adaptation of a novel series that first started getting published nearly a decade ago. This story would have been bollocks if it had been broadcast back in 2017. Now that we're almost ten years on, it's merely the reheated scraps of moldy old bollocks. Arihito was killed in a bus crash. He's reborn into a generic fantasy RPG world. His first task is to go to the godforsaken Adventurer's Guild to get assigned his class, and I award no points for guessing what the stupid power levels of his stupid abilities are going to be based on. Ah, Christ, here comes the heartburn. It's a good thing that I make sure to order an industrial sized palette of TUMS every few months, just so the quarterly slog through all of this isekai bullcrap doesn't literally kill me.

What makes The World's Strongest Rearguard just that tiniest bit more unbearable than all of its indistinguishably brain-damaged incest siblings is the way it's soulless art and animation goes so far in the direction of the uncanny valley that it almost loops back around into being kind of creepy. Every single character in this episode, Arihito included, walks around with the most cursed, dead-eyed gaze of a botched homunculus. Not only do none of these people give the slightest shit that they are dead and have suddenly been thrust into life as fantasy adventurers, they can't be bothered to express a recognizable human emotion about anything. It's like if an anime was populated exclusively by different forms of the perpetually shambling sex-metaphor monster from It Follows.

So, The World's Strongest Rearguard isn't just bad; it's so pathetically inert as a creative work that you end up feeling embarrassed on behalf of anyone involved in its existence. The author, the animators, the investors, and anyone who intentionally sits down to watch an entire episode of this dreck—the only thing you can do is pray that they are all blessed with the merciful embrace of the Isekai Truck. Not with enough force to kill any of them, dear Lord, I'm not a monster. It would just be nice if all these poor souls collided with Truck-sama's grille at just enough force to induce the kind of permanent amnesia that will allow them to live without the memory of having wasted so much time on such a pointless effort.

I remember reading the first novel in this series back when isekai was a bit less saturated. I also remember only really liking a few parts of it, although I couldn't tell you what they were besides it being my first “group isekai” story. But I definitely remember Theresia and how little I cared for her role in the plot. I'll hand it to The World's Strongest Rearguard, it does try to obfuscate the fact that she's a slave. When Louisa gives Arihito his consolation prize for having ended up with a very weird class, she calls them “mercenary tickets,” and Leila at the mercenary shop makes it sound like Arihito's renting a mercenary. But I guess the subtitles couldn't find a way around “slave crest,” which lets us in on the truth of Theresia's state. She's a former seeker who died in the labyrinth and was reanimated as a lizardwoman. And now Arihito has, with nary a qualm, purchased her. Or maybe he rented her; I'm not entirely sure. But in any event, it's not a great look for our purported hero.

So yes, The World's Strongest Rearguard is one of those shows. Arihito, a corporate drudge, died in a bus accident, ends up in a fantasy world where apparently all reincarnated people go (is it basically purgatory?), joins the guild, and acquires a slave. If the opening and ending themes are to be believed, he'll soon be the only man in a party of seven. He's remarkably disinterested in pretty much everything going on around him until Theresia gets attacked in the labyrinth to the point where he only buys a slingshot and heads off on his adventure in his suit. Viewers can expect such thrilling scenes as “Arihito talks to himself while he walks around” and “Arihito and Louisa at the guild talk for a long time about how stuff works.” If you don't already enjoy this type of power fantasy, I respectfully suggest that you don't need to bother with this.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that it's got some very weird animation. There's a scene at roughly the 8:35 mark where Arihito's former boss Igarashi is…miming swordplay? and her breasts do some things not intended by nature. Of course, her torso is weirdly foreshortened, too, so the whole thing is unintentionally kind of funny. Theresia's fight scene with the cotton ball is barely animated, and even the usually great Yoshitsugu Matsuoka can't seem to muster much enthusiasm as Arihito. This is, simply put, a wash, although I hesitate to use that word since washing dishes is often more exciting.

Wow, I am genuinely impressed. Never in my life have I watched a premiere that was so boring and devoid of any life. I've complained about a lot of other fantasy or isekai trash that is airing this season, but this definitively takes the cake. At least with those other shows, they were either so nonsensical to the point where they could be sort of interesting to at least talk about or maybe they offered one unique idea that I could hold onto for an episode or two. But this? This premiere was nothing. Despite the fact that barely anything happens, the animation and presentation is actually really poor. The colors look washed out, there's some strange nonsensical angles towards the end of the episode and I feel like I genuinely am not given a reason to care about anybody that was introduced.

I actually had to look on the wiki to remind myself what the main character's name was because outside of the fact that he died with a bus full of people, that's kind of all there is to him. There's nothing about him that is unique or interesting. He developed some resolve once he realizes that he can actually die, but even then it feels like him getting over a quick realization rather than some kind of life-changing experience. This dude approaches everything with the attitude of going to the store to grab some milk. There is something a little funny about just how casual and by the numbers this show treats its premise. I actually laughed at Arihito realizing “oh yeah, I guess we died” and then carrying on as if they were talking about the weather. But that's about it.

There's no real sense of drama or tension, there's nothing visually interesting here to look at, nobody feels like an actual character yet and even the overall mechanics of how this world works feels incredibly boring. I'm sure the story will get into how being a rearguard is actually a really cool or broken ability or that Arihito is some kind of special case since his trainer card had that weird marking on it. Oh, and I'm sure he's going to get a harem by the end too based on the opening. But…who cares? I'm not invested in anything and I feel like I just spent twenty minutes watching a bowl of lukewarm oatmeal.