The release of new shonen anime every season has become a trend in the anime industry, and this year has seen plenty of great shonen releases. However, one of the newest shonen entries of 2026 comes from Summer 2026 on Crunchyroll, with Black Torch, based on a manga that came to a premature end almost a decade ago. The Black Torch manga spans only 19 chapters, and within its short narrative, it presents a perfect small-scale shonen story. Adapting it into an anime this Summer is Studio EEK, which has delivered a near-perfect adaptation so far.
Nine episodes of the anime have been released, adapting a total of 14 and a half chapters from the manga. This makes it clear that the next few episodes, perhaps just two or three, would be enough to cover the rest of the manga’s narrative, bringing the anime to an end. This is also what the latest episode of the series implied, as its protagonist, Jiro Azuma, is now aiming to become the perfect shonen hero. Jiro’s role has certainly been that of the perfect shonen hero in every way, as the series embraces elements of classic shonen anime, and with the final stretch of the series, his role is also reaching a perfect conclusion for the anime’s short narrative.
The previous episode of the series saw the final villain, Amagi, come into the picture, and his ambition of removing Rago from Jiro ended with Rago transferring all of his spectral energy into Jiro, leaving Rago as nothing more than a normal cat. This is what the latest episode of the series continues. Though Jiro has already acquired a powerful transformation through Rago’s power, it turns out that without Rago in the picture, Jiro is struggling to control it. As Jiro tries to control it, he is thrown into the same rage mode that fans have come to see from shonen heroes when they cannot control their inner demon powers.
This sees Jiro attempting to kill everyone, even his grandfather, in the latest bout, but his grandfather is perfectly capable of subduing his rage mode, which is somewhat reminiscent of Naruto‘s Eight-Tailed Kurama mode being subdued with the emergence of his father. After this moment, the story features Azuma’s next step toward conquering his new powers, as expected. The latest challenge for Azuma to gain control over his power is to challenge himself in the forest where the greatest mononoke resides, which could help him, and it is clear that Azuma is set to come out of this with the perfect upgrade.
The stage is perfect, as the forest harbors animals, which is Azuma’s specialty because he can speak to them. With only nearly five chapters remaining to be adapted, it is clear that the next chapter will see Jiro perfecting his control over his new power and preparing him for the final climax of the series in its final episodes, bringing Black Torch‘s small journey to a perfect end.
