Side Quest #006

Welcome back to Side Quest #006 — your nerdy little corner of the internet for anime, JRPGs, and Japanese folklore weirdness. This one lands every other Friday (we're ramping to weekly soon, promise), so grab your drink of choice and let's get into it.

Continue? — what's worth your time right now

The heavy hitters are doing exactly what heavy hitters do — Steel Ball Run is finally animated, and Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen continues its victory lap. (Re:Zero’s Recapture Arc we covered last issue — still running, still worth clearing your queue for.) If you've been sleeping on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's new entry or the quietly charming Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. Season 2, both are worth a peek for something a little different from the shonen juggernauts.

The one to actually put in your calendar: Steel Ball Run returns Friday, September 25 with an 11-episode run covering the 2nd and 3rd Stages, weekly on Netflix. If you watched the 47-minute premiere back in March and then quietly forgot it existed, this is your window to catch up before it takes off again.

On Deck — what's coming

October is where this season actually gets loud. The headliner is The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 on October 2 — split-cour, with the back half held until April 2027, and a film landing in Japan on December 11. Yorushika is on opening duties. If you bounced off season one because "court intrigue pharmacist" sounded slow, this is the arc to come back for.

Also landing: Black Clover Season 2 in October, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 this fall, and a tidy double-header on October 4 with Blue Box Season 2 and Aoashi Season 2.

The games side is louder than the anime side this year. Final Fantasy Resonance lands October 22 — the first HD-2D entry in the series, turn-based rather than ATB, adapting the Lapis arc out of Brave Exvius. The free demo went live on September 3, it covers the entire first chapter, and your save carries straight into the full game. That is your weekend, sorted. Sephiroth is in there somewhere too.

That lands thirteen days after Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen, which we flagged last issue — so October gives you two completely different flavors of RPG in three weeks, right as the anime season kicks off. Plan your free time accordingly.

While you wait, we ranked the best JRPGs of all time — pick one you've been lying about having finished.

One Deep Cut

Everybody tells you to watch Fate/Zero. Nobody tells you what happened to Waver Velvet.

If you've seen Fate/Zero, you remember him — the insecure teenage magus who summoned Iskandar, spent the whole war being told he didn't belong in it, and came out the other side changed by a king who treated him like he mattered. Then the credits roll and that's it.

Except it isn't. Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note picks him up about a decade later. Waver is now a chain-smoking professor at the Clock Tower in London, saddled with an inherited noble title he never wanted, teaching modern magecraft to students who mostly out-rank him. And here's the part that makes it a deep cut: there is no Holy Grail War. It's a detective series. Thirteen episodes of magical locked-room mysteries, wearing Fate's coat.

That sounds like a downgrade. It isn't. Stripping out the battle royale leaves room for the thing Fate/Zero only had time to gesture at — a man living in the long shadow of someone who changed his life and then died. Every case he solves is really him still arguing with a ghost. If Rider's arc wrecked you, this is where that grief actually lands.

Where to watch: it's streaming on Crunchyroll (also available through the Crunchyroll channel on Amazon). Thirteen episodes, 2019 — a weekend, comfortably.

One warning: watch Fate/Zero first. Going in cold, this is a competent mystery show. Going in having watched Waver grow up, it's something else entirely. And if the Fate watch order has ever defeated you — you are not alone, it defeats everyone. We untangled exactly this kind of mess in our Demon Slayer watch order guide, and a Fate version is coming.

Play / Watch This

Three things from the site worth your evening, depending on which way your backlog leans:

• Best Anime to Watch in 2026 — the full ranked list, if you want a queue built for you before October hits
• Best JRPGs of All Time — the definitive ranking, and the argument-starter of the bunch
• 10 Best Anime Games in 2026 — easy to pick up, hard to put down, no grinding required

From the Forge

With Steel Ball Run back on the calendar and everyone suddenly wanting JoJo figures on the shelf, this is a good moment to think about making them instead of buying them. 3D printing anime figures and props is more accessible than ever in 2026 — you genuinely don't need to spend a fortune to get good results.

• Best Budget 3D Printer Under $300 for Anime Figures, Minis & Props — every budget tier, broken down
• Best Bleach Zanpakuto to 3D Print — since TYBW is still running its victory lap
• Stock up on resin and filament bundles before you start printing

That's a wrap on #006. See you in two weeks — or sooner, once we flip to weekly. Either way, stay nerdy.

More where this came from: geekyinc.com — guides, tier lists, and 3D printing breakdowns, updated most weeks. And if someone forwarded you this, you can subscribe here to get it straight to your inbox.

We also keep a Discord open if you'd rather talk than read.

Geeky Inc is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

As an Amazon Associate, Geeky Inc earns from qualifying purchases.