Side Quest #005

Welcome back to Side Quest #005 — your nerdy little corner of the internet covering anime, JRPGs, and the weird, wonderful mythology powering them both. We drop every other Friday (ramping to weekly very soon), so grab a snack and let's get into it.

Continue? — what's worth your time right now

2026 has been a genuinely stacked year for anime — Frieren, Jujutsu Kaisen, Fate/strange Fake and Golden Kamuy all competing for the same weekend hours. But the one actually mid-run right now is Re:Zero Season 4, and it's the one to prioritize.

Season 4 is split into two cours adapting Arc 6 — the Pleiades Watchtower saga. The Loss Arc ran first from April; The Recapture Arc picked up on August 12 and is eight episodes, so it's live right now and you can still catch it close to weekly. If you dropped off after Season 3, this is the arc that pays back the investment — the writing is the tightest it's been in years and White Fox clearly know exactly what they're doing with the pacing. Clear your queue accordingly.

On the JRPG side, the back half of 2026 is genuinely dangerous for your free time. Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen is locked in for October 9 across PS5, Series X|S, Switch 2 and PC — a full expansion, not a patch. If you'd rather have something to play tonight, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection has been out since March and is the creature-collector most people slept on this year, whether or not you touched the earlier games.

And Nintendo is quietly rebuilding the whole Xenoblade shelf on Switch 2 — the Definitive Edition and Chronicles 2 editions are already out, with Chronicles 3 landing December 3. Which makes right now the window to catch up on the trilogy before Xenoblade Genesis arrives in 2027 with an all-new world.

One Deep Cut

Let's talk about the Tanuki — and why it's far more interesting than the raccoon-dog meme you think you know.

In Japanese folklore, tanuki are shapeshifting tricksters with a talent for illusion, transformation, and bending reality just enough to make you question what's real. Unlike fox spirits (kitsune), who tend toward cunning malice, tanuki are chaotic and comedic — the pranksters of the spirit world, capable of disguising themselves as humans, objects, even entire buildings. Their shapeshifting isn't perfect, though. Catch one off-guard and the illusion cracks.

Here's the part that surprises people: they never really left. Walk past enough restaurants in Japan and you'll find them stationed outside in ceramic — the pot-bellied Shigaraki tanuki, straw hat on, sake flask in hand, ledger tucked under one arm. They're good-luck charms for businesses. A trickster spirit that got a day job as a doorman.

You'll find echoes of that same energy all over games and anime — in the mischievous spirit companions of the JRPG world, in the slippery merchants who appear from nowhere with something they really shouldn't be selling, in any character whose cheerful exterior is hiding something stranger underneath. In the Neon Yokai lore we're building here at Geeky Inc, the tanuki archetype maps onto the street-level trickster spirits — the ones flickering in neon-lit alleys, selling things that shouldn't exist, always one step ahead of being caught.

Play / Watch This

If the JJK buzz in this issue has you wanting to revisit the fight that broke the fandom, our deep-dive covers every chapter of Gojo vs Sukuna — the full arc from JJK 221–236, volumes 25–28, with context, analysis, and an FAQ for the moments that genuinely made no sense the first time through.

• Gojo vs Sukuna — Every Chapter of the Fight Explained — the full Geeky Inc breakdown
• Still catching up on the anime? Best Anime to Watch in 2026 — the ranked list
• Or grab the JJK manga volumes and read it the way it was drawn

From the Forge

Printing season never ends. If you're eyeing a new Bambu Lab machine and drowning in spec sheets, our 2026 breakdown cuts through the noise and tells you which printer actually makes sense for your setup — whether you're running multicolor anime figures or functional parts.

• Bambu H2D vs H2C vs X2D — Which Should You Buy? — the full comparison
• New to this? Start with the Best Budget 3D Printer Under $300 guide instead
• Stock up on multicolor filament before you start

Until next time — keep your save files backed up and your gacha pulls lucky. ✌️

More where this came from: geekyinc.com — guides, tier lists, and 3D printing breakdowns, updated most weeks. Enjoyed this? Forward it to a fellow nerd. Not subscribed yet? Get Side Quest in your inbox here.

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Image credits: Shigaraki tanuki photo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

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