Welcome to Side Quest #001 — a five-minute detour through anime, JRPGs, and the Japanese folklore that quietly powers both, landing in your inbox every other Friday (we'll be ramping to weekly soon). Pour something. Here's what's worth your attention.
Continue? — what's worth your time right now
On screen: The big one is Witch Hat Atelier, which finally got its adaptation after a near-decade wait — gorgeous to look at and an easy first-watch this season. If you want something darker, Daemons of the Shadow Realm comes from the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist with animation by Studio Bones. And the comfort-watch trio is all back: Re:Zero, Dr. Stone, and One Piece.
Coming this summer: the one to circle is Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War — Part 4: The Calamity — the final season, premiering in July (with theater previews in late June). It adapts the manga's last arc and brings the mainline story to a close.
On the horizon: 2026 is shaping up to be a monster year for JRPGs. Trails Beyond the Horizon begins the end of Falcom's decades-long saga, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined rebuilds a divisive classic with a modernized job system, and Nioh 3 lets you flip between samurai and shinobi mid-fight. Stack the wishlist now.
One Deep Cut — why your favorite RPGs are haunted
Meet the onryō (怨霊): a spirit who died with so much rage or grief that they refused to move on, returning to haunt the living. It's one of the most load-bearing ideas in everything you watch and play. The long-haired ghost of J-horror? Onryō. The cursed spirits of Jujutsu Kaisen? Same well. The daemons of this season's new Arakawa series? Drinking from it too.
JRPGs lean on it hardest of all — the tragic "boss" who turns out to be a victim, the haunted blade you shouldn't have picked up, the spirit you have to lay to rest before the area will let you leave. Once you can name the onryō pattern, you'll spot it in half the stories you love. (It's also the exact well our own Neon Yokai lore is dug from — more on that soon.)
Play This — Elden Ring
If the 2026 JRPG wait is already killing you, the cure is the action-RPG that still hasn't been topped. We just rebuilt our 2026 Elden Ring weapon tier list and our guide to respeccing (Rebirth) — so you can grab a top-tier weapon and rebuild your character around it in an afternoon.
Don't own it yet (or want the DLC)? Grab Elden Ring here.
From the Forge — for the makers
On the 3D-printing side: if you've got a printer sitting idle between projects, putting your favorite characters on your shelf is the most satisfying weekend you can have. We refreshed our roundup of the best places to find anime STL files in 2026 — start there, load up some fresh PLA, and go.
Join the party
Side Quest is better with a party. Come talk anime, JRPGs, and 3D printing with us in the Geeky Inc Discord — that's where the next-character votes and early lore drops happen.
That's the run. See you next week. — The Geeky Inc crew
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